Entsch on global rescue mission
Retiring Politician
Helping stamp out one of the world’s deadliest diseases and rescuing some of Australia’s most endangered species are just two of the projects retiring federal politician Warren Entsch will be throwing himself into after politics.
“The important thing you need to understand is that I’m not retiring,” Entsch told Newsport in a one-on-one interview in the lead-up to this year’s May federal election, which Entsch will not be contesting.
“I’m retiring from politics.”
The federal MP for Leichhardt has been working hard to reduce the devastating effects of tuberculosis through a global board he has been a part of since 2014.
“Worldwide it’s the biggest single infectious disease killer in the world,” he says.
“My mum got TB when I was a child.”
“It split our family up.
“It had a huge impact on our family.”
He says the project has been “amazingly successful” at simplifying the treatment for TB, and the time when there will be an effective vaccine is approaching.
Entsch's other labour of love is the National Threatened Species Institute in Canberra, which he helped establish about six years ago with a pair of friends.
“We are breeding threatened native species for release back into the wild,” he says.
This includes several species of native mice and several types of rare native bird.
But Entsch is still unsure what his full-time role may look like - he is not quite ready to retire to his hobby farm.
“That’s my happy place,” he says.
“It’s not somewhere I can live permanently.”
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
Knowing the man who has represented the area for most of the past 30 years, he is sure to be staying busy.
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