MP proposes in Parliament

Stuff reports:

Looking up to the public gallery from his seat in Australia’s House of Representatives, Liberal MP Tim Wilson neared the end of his speech and paused.

“There’s only one thing left to do,” he said, choking up slightly. “Ryan Patrick Bolger, will you marry me?”

It was, in all likelihood, the first marriage proposal to be made on the floor of Parliament. And the answer came back fast and loud: “Yes.”

The word has been heard ad nauseam in recent weeks, but rarely in a context so personal. The Melbourne pair have considered themselves fiances for years, and now, as same-sex marriage enters the final stretch of parliamentary debate, their long-awaited wedding day finally nears.

“I take great pride in being able to say at every single occasion I stood up and defended our institutions, traditions and freedoms ahead of the politics of the day.

“Some took a stop-change-at-all-costs approach, and the full costs now come with it. That was their choice – not those seeking change, and not mine. My conscience is clear.”

The Liberal Party should “reflect on this debate and learn from it”, Wilson said. 

“Some of us are liberals, real liberals, living [Robert] Menzies’ address to his 1965 federal council that we are not the party of the past, not the conservative party dying hard on the last barricade, but one with a lively mind and a forward-looking heart,” he said.

Tim is a true classical liberal. He was appointed by the Abbott Government to the Human Rights Commission as a Free Speech Commissioner. National should have done the same here. Someone whose job was to defend free speech – even unpopular speech.