The longest-serving current member of the House of Representatives has delivered his farewell speech to parliament.
Kevin Andrews - first elected to the Victorian seat of Menzies in 1991 - said he entered politics three decades ago to make a difference.
"It was a concern that government was not acknowledging and responding adequately to the needs of families, particularly those with children, that motivated me to stand for election in the first place," the Liberal MP said in his valedictory speech on Thursday.
Mr Andrews served as a cabinet minister in the Howard and Abbott governments and is known as the Father of the House for having the longest continuous service of all sitting MPs.
He referenced his time as minister in the aged care, immigration and defence portfolios as having made a difference.
But Mr Andrews said Australia faces significant challenges domestically and geopolitically that must be addressed.
The COVID pandemic revealed "fault lines" within the Federation structure, he said.
"I encourage all who sit in this parliament in the next session to begin the long conversation about the constitutional and other arrangements that will best ensure (Australia) remains ... one people with one destiny," he said.
Mr Andrews also called on his parliamentary colleagues to engage more with members of other parliaments in the Indo-Pacific.
"The security of our region is in greater peril today than it has been for generations," he said.
"Not since World War II - some 80 years ago - have we had to contemplate, defending Australia, but we do.
"We must stand economically, strategically and militarily with those nations and states - however imperfect - that seek to uphold the dignity and the freedom of the individual, and against totalitarian regimes."
