New Liberal MP Tim Wilson has fought back tears during his maiden speech to parliament as he spoke about his fiance and the fight for same-sex marriage.
The former Human Rights Commissioner, who replaced Andrew Robb in the blue ribbon seat of Goldstein, spoke about how he and his fiance Ryan had struggled with the wait to be allowed to legally marry.
"I know you have sacrificed so much for us to be here today," Mr Wilson said.
"For seven years, a ring has sat on both of our left hands, and they are the answer to a question we still cannot ask.
"No matter what happens here, we have already achieved more than many who come and go from this place because we have lived the change we seek in the world.
"And that is why I am here. To lead change. To turn liberal values into liberal action."
Mr Wilson also used his speech to call for a 20 per cent personal and company tax rate and to criticise the small politics he says has stifled tackling the big challenges.
He said he didn't love the game of politics and his interest lay in public policy and how to secure this country's promise for future generations.
"I have watched with frustration as small politics has stifled tackling the big challenges ahead of us," he said.
Mr Wilson said the legacy of Mr Robb was to open up markets through international trade agreements.
Australia needed to restructure industries to create the employers of tomorrow and constructive reform of the health sector provided one of the greatest opportunities for Australia.
He said there needed to be a sensible discussion around industrial relations and those who argued for inflexible agreements were now the enemy of workers' security.
"Wherever the barriers are greatest comes the incentive for technology to smash the status quo," he said.
Mr Wilson said the same was true for tax reform and we had to stop fiddling at the margins.
"I have never understood why we tax people more than companies. It fosters perverse incentives for the wealthy to redirect energy to minimise tax rather than grow profits," he said.
Mr Wilson said cynicism pervaded modern political life and the best way to combat that cynicism was to act with integrity.
He said Australians needed to see that parliamentarians acted with conviction.
"Politics necessitates compromise on policy. Integrity comes from preferring defeat with your principles, than to win without them," he said.
At the end of his speech Mr Wilson was embraced by same-sex marriage supporters Warren Entsch and Trent Zimmerman.
