In his inaugural speech, Labor member Chris Steel said he believed he was the second ever openly gay person to be elected to the ACT's parliament.

But he said the chief minister's "hard-won path" as the first openly gay leader of an Australian parliament meant his was a "mundane achievement".

"He has made it easier for those who come after him and their families - and for that I thank him," Mr Steel said.

"Of course marriage equality will be an important milestone for inclusion in the ACT if it is achieved again through a vote of the Commonwealth Parliament. But here in the ACT there is more work to do to tackle discrimination and to foster inclusion in the community and I am keen to be a champion of inclusion here in the ACT."

Eight of the territory's 12 new members of parliament delivered their first speeches on Tuesday.

Several revealed tragedy spurred them to run for a seat in the assembly.

Mr Steel also remembered his brother, Kurt Steel, a media advisor to Andrew Barr who was killed in a Bolivian bus crash two years ago.

He said the last time he ran around Lake Burley Griffin with his brother, just days before he left for South America, Kurt urged him to run for office.

"It was perhaps the best gift of advice that I could have been given - and coming from Kurt you knew it had authority," he said.

"Today he is no doubt having a drink at the upstairs bar with my grandfather, Ted, with some satisfaction."

New Labor minister Rachel Stephen-Smith paid an emotional tribute to her partner Michael, who took his own life last year.

Ms Rachel Stephen-Smith, who is the former chief of staff for Senator Kim Carr, said her partner followed her to Canberra from Washington DC in 2014 but struggled to find work.

"It was hard not being a citizen, being someone with specialised expertise, and arriving at the tail-end of big federal government job cuts, when lots of people were looking for work," Ms Stephen-Smith said.

After he moved back to DC, she said Michael still could not find work and became isolated.

"Then something happened that stripped him of hope and pushed him over the edge," she said.

"Until that moment, I was one of those fortunate people to whom nothing really bad has ever happened.

"Last November changed that. And it changed me – not in a big way, but in many small ways, one of which is I cry more easily than I used to.

"I wish every day that Michael was still with us in the world. I have no doubt that if he were here today, there would be plenty of gratuitous advice coming my way about what I did and did not say. But I also know he would be proud of me."

Labor backbencher Bec Cody drew on her own experience as a survivor of domestic violence to urge the ACT parliament to take action on family violence.

"Our problem with domestic violence isn't that it is extraordinary. Our problem with domestic violence is that it's normal. Normal men killing normal women. Normal men terrorising normal women. It starts with normal men controlling normal women. I know. I was there," Ms Cody said.

Tuesday also marked the first sitting of a majority female parliament in Australia.

Watched on by her five children, Liberal member Elizabeth Kikkert said politics needed more mothers "for the same principles that build strong families will also build a stronger society".

Liberal Elizabeth Lee said she was the first Korean-Australian elected member of an Australian parliament and the first Asian-Australian elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly.

A public gallery that was standing room only watched as she thanked Senator Zed Seselja for introducing her to the party, as well as the Canberra Korean community and her family for their support.

Labor's Michael Pettersson and Suzanne Orr, and the Liberal's James Milligan will deliver their first speeches on Thursday. Caroline Le Couteur of the Greens waived her right to deliver an inaugural speech as she sat in the ACT parliament from 2008 until 2012.

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