Darren Chester’s rise to the cabinet comes just seven months after he stared down a campaign to disendorse him over his support for marriage equality.

Chester, the member for Gippsland since 2008, has been promoted to infrastructure and transport minister in Malcolm Turnbull’s ministerial reshuffle, moving from parliamentary secretary to the minister for defence.

A former newspaper and radio journalist, Chester declared his support for marriage equality in June 2015 saying while it was “not the biggest issue” in his electorate he believed same-sex marriage should be passed in parliament.

“I think the momentum is growing in the community. A lot of younger voters who I talk to, perhaps in secondary school or forums, say they’ve moved on, they just want this to happen, that the parliament of Australia should vote that way,” he said at the time.

A campaign to disendorse him became public through the Gippsland Times with the president of the Nationals’ Gippsland district council writing that when Chester was first endorsed for the seat he was opposed to same-sex marriage.

Chester decisively won the bid to unseat him with a vote of 23 to two against the motion he be disendorsed.

We must do more to help those less fortunate. Darren Chester

One of five children, Chester was born and grew up in Gippsland and worked as chief of staff for former Victorian state leader of the Nationals Peter Ryan.

He used his maiden speech to parliament to speak about the need for the parliament to address social and economic disadvantage, singling out older people and Indigenous Australians.

“Our treatment of people who are socially or economically disadvantaged will be one of my main focuses during my term in office. Despite our incredible natural resources and significant wealth, Gippsland performs poorly on a range of socioeconomic indicators. I want to spend my time in office fighting for a fair share of resources and fighting for a fair go for all Gippslanders,” Chester said.

“We live in a wealthy nation – so wealthy in fact that we can afford to have a conscience. As individuals, many of us listen to our consciences – we volunteer our services and we support charities, because it is our way of making a difference and our household budgets can afford the time and the expense. As a nation, we must also have a conscience, and our federal budget can afford the expense. We must do more to help those less fortunate.”

He also spoke about young people’s disengagement in politics and the need to motivate them to participate more in the community and the need for better health services in regional areas.