Entsch back into the fray
WARREN Entsch is lacing up his gloves for one last political punch-up – and if that statement triggers a sense of dejavu, then stiff bickies.
The Leichhardt MP will stand for the LNP once more at the next election after a preselection process that took months despite no other candidates putting up their hand.
“There’s no doubt that there were those within the party who were not happy with my (marriage equality) advocacy,” he said.
“I’m sure they were determined to make sure that I went through the full process.”
That included getting proof he was not a dual citizen since his grandmother arrived from the UK in 1911 at age eight.
“I’m told I’m not a Pom,” Mr Entsch said.
The veteran legislator warned contenders and indeed his own party that his chalky old knuckles still command a wallop, and he would not take a backward step in pursuing his “unfinished business”.
He said it would be his last election – something voters have heard before – with a sense of genuine finality.
“Age will start to beat me on it,” he said.
“My wife struggled letting me go this time, although she’s doing a great job in her own right.
“It’s a critical time now, and if I was to step aside it worries me what would happen.”
Mr Entsch suggested his unfinished business – a term likely to be etched in voters’ brains by the campaign’s end – should be achievable over a three-year term.
He was determined to get mains-equivalent power to the Daintree, make inroads in the fight against tuberculosis in the Asia-Pacific, complete the sealing of the Peninsula Development Rd and make Cairns the fourth best tropical sports conditioning hub in the world.
He wanted the completion of new sea walls being built on islands throughout the Torres Strait and to oversee insurance sector reform.
“Nobody else knows it to the extent that I do,” he said.
“I’ve put eight years into insurance.
“I don’t want to leave five minutes before it’s completed and then it goes off the rails.”
This will be Mr Entsch’s eighth and final bout and he already has his eye on an unnamed successor.
It will be worth looking closely at who runs his campaign for a hint at his or her identity.
“I’ve got somebody I think that would be really good, if they were interested,” he said. editorial@cairnspost.com.au facebook.com/TheCairnsPost www.cairnspost.com.au twitter.com/TheCairnsPost