Warren Entsch

Warren George Entsch (born 31 May 1950) is an Australian politician currently serving as a Liberal National member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the Division of Leichhardt in Queensland. He represented Leichhardt from March 1996 to his retirement at the dissolution of parliament in October 2007 prior to the November 2007 election for the Liberal Party of Australia. He was re-elected to the seat in August 2010, sitting federally with the Liberals.

Biography

He was born in Babinda, Queensland and served in the Royal Australian Air Force 1969–78. He was a maintenance fitter and welder, real estate agent, farmer and grazier and company director before entering politics.

Entsch was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Science and Resources 1998–2001 and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources from 2001 to 2006. In September 2004 Entsch publicly spoke against his party's anti-gay-marriage stance, describing laws to prevent gay marriage as "offensive" and "unnecessary". As a result of his pro-gay statements, the Family First Party – which preferenced Liberal/National Coalition candidates ahead of Labor candidates in almost every other seat, nationwide – directed their preferences to Labor instead of Entsch. Nevertheless, he won re-election with an increased majority of both the primary and two-party-preferred vote.