The newly-elected Member for Hume, accompanied by his family, close friends and former Member Alby Schultz and his wife Gloria, paid special tribute to his grandfather Sir William Hudson who “remains a pervasive role model in my life.” Sir William was the Commissioner and Chief Engineer of the Snowy Mountains Scheme and led it from its inception in 1949 until just before completion in 1967.

“He conceived of the idea and insisted, against resistance, to bring in large numbers of refugees from war torn Europe,” Mr Taylor said.

  AUDIO: Maiden speech

“He insisted that people from over 30 countries who had just been fighting each other in the Second World War live and work together in multi-ethnic camps. The Snowy Scheme, quite literally, changed the face of our nation.

“My grandfather treated every single person with whom he came into contact - from humble truck drivers to his senior engineers - with equal dignity and respect ...

“Madam Speaker, at the peak of a rewarding career in the private sector, my decision to enter public life was not an easy one. In the end though, it was influenced heavily by my grandfather’s record and impact as one of our nation’s great public servants.” Mr Taylor spoke about the need to seize “global opportunities”.

  VIDEO: Maiden speech - Part 1

He said the future prosperity of regional Australia will rely on the right policy settings and capital investment to allow primary producers and small business to compete on a global scale.

He said Australia was on the brink of a boom in demand for its primary products, with “tens of millions of people in the developing world moving each year from agrarian poverty into urban and middle class lives.” “But it is only a chance. We could easily botch this one. Many of our competitors are eyeing this prize,” he said.

“To those who argue for fortress Australia, Madam Speaker, they are wrong. The pursuit of global opportunities in sectors where we can excel, will strengthen us.

  VIDEO: Maiden speech - Part 2

“This is how we will sustain our sovereignty –not by putting up new barriers…We need the big licks of capital and the skills others can provide.” Mr Taylor said small businesses in Hume needed the right policy settings and investment in infrastructure.

“I want mobile phone reception and internet connectivity improved quickly, so more of my constituents can better run their small businesses or work from home, creating more local jobs.

“I want grain, meat and cherry producers in my electorate to be selling without barriers into fast growing Asian markets now.

“I want more rural doctors and hospitals installing new technology and offering new services – not cutting them…I want to know we will look after our most vulnerable and elderly, as their numbers continue to grow…I want the Barton Highway - connecting 12,000 of my constituents to Canberra each day - to be the road it should be.” Mr Taylor recounted his Oxford University days when discussing the need for Australia to protect its “basic values and bedrock institutions”.

  VIDEO: Maiden speech - Part 3 

“I first encountered political correctness as a student in Oxford,” he said.

“It was 1991 and a young Naomi Wolfe lived a couple of doors down the corridor.

“Several graduate students, mostly from the North East of the US decided we should abandon the Christmas tree in the Common room because some people might be offended.

“I was confused.

“My friends from Oklahoma, Alaska and Oregon explained this new kind of moral vanity which was taking hold in America.

“A few of us pushed back hard.

In the end we won because we were the mainstream. But Madam Speaker, we must resist the insidious political correctness which would have us discard those core values that have made us great.

  VIDEO: Maiden speech - Part 4

“In our times, the world over, the foundation of democracy - free speech - and the foundation of capitalism - property rights - is being chipped away by shrill, elitist voices who insist they know what is best for people who are not remotely like them.

I can tell you Madam Speaker, I will always defend property rights and free speech.

“And in this place I will back the parliament over the executive and the judiciary – because it is through this parliament that each of us here is accountable to our constituents.” Mr Taylor painted an eloquent picture of his childhood during the first part of the speech.

“I was born an hour’s drive south of here, and now I live an hour to the north on the edge of a beautiful frost plain near Goulburn,” he said.

“My childhood home sits on the Monaro, high on the great divide. My three brothers and I had a freedom and independence that most children these days – and even then - could only dream of. It was not until the midnineties that on our place we switched from horses to motor bikes for our stock work. So I spent much of my childhood and young adulthood on the back of a horse.

“We rode 10km across the paddocks to pony club in Nimmitabel. We fished in the big dam for yabbies and trout.

“We rode our pushbikes to the school bus. We mustered, drenched and marked our way through school and university holidays. At a young age, it was unexceptional to be sent to pick up a mob of sheep or cattle many miles away with just a lunch pack and a horse – and if we were lucky, a good dog.” 

He thanked his wife Louise – a “girl from the bush who was interested in big things: Politics, God and the world around her ...” - and their children Hamish, Olivia, Adelaide and Roo.

“We love you dearly. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for accepting such a dramatic change in our lives.”

To view the Maiden Speech in it's entirety, click here