Warren Entsch confirms retirement as ALP picks ex-basketball player Matt Smith to contest Leichhardt

Anthony Albanese will announce a former professional basketballer turned unionist as the ALP’s candidate for the must-win seat of Leichhardt, as veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch confirms he will retire.

ALP candidate Matt Smith in his playing days. Picture: Brendan Radke

Anthony Albanese will announce a former professional basketballer turned unionist as the ALP candidate for the must-win seat of Leichhardt, as veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch confirms he will retire.

The Prime Minister will fly to Queensland for the second time in a fortnight to announce more candidates for the upcoming federal election, including Together Union organiser Matt Smith, who will contest the crucial far north Queensland seat.

Labor holds just five of 30 seats in Peter Dutton’s fortress state and senior party strategists believe Leichhardt – which stretches from Cairns to the Torres Strait – is its best chance of making gains in Queensland.

Mr Entsch, 74, who has won Leichhardt at every election since 1996 – excluding the 2007 “Ruddslide” when he did not stand – confirmed to The Australian he would not contest the next election, with the Liberal National Party recently closing preselection nominations.

“I have been in the parliament since 1996 and have achieved a lot of what I set out to achieve,” said Mr Entsch, who holds Leichhardt on a margin of 3.44 per cent. “It is time to hand it over to someone else who can bring new ideas and perspectives. I am not getting any younger and there are other things I would prefer to do than sit in parliament for half a year.

“I have had a fair run and really enjoyed it immensely.”

Warren Entsch and former Douglas Shire mayor Julia Leu in Cairns in June. Picture: Emily Barker

It is understood five hopefuls have nominated for LNP preselection and are being vetted.

Former Cairns Taipan player Mr Smith was preselected uncontested as Labor’s candidate.

The party will hold three contested preselections for the Greens’ seat of Griffith in Brisbane’s inner-south, the LNP’s Capricornia in central Queensland (held by Nationals MP Michelle Landry on a margin of 6.59 per cent) and Longman, which Liberal MP Terry Young holds by just 3.08 per cent.

In Griffith, the Old Guard’s Renee Coffey and the Left’s Katie Havelberg will face off, while in Longman, former ALP candidate Rebecca Fanning (of the Right) will be challenged by party headquarters organiser and Left faction member Rhiannon Douglas.

The preselection fight is predicted to get messy in Capricornia, where Rockhampton-based psychologist Helen Madell takes on Brisbane-based Maurice Blackburn lawyer Emily Mawson, who is originally from the central Queensland mining town of Moranbah.

While Ms Madell is understood to have the backing of the local branches and key Old Guard figures such as former state MP Robert Schwarten and sitting MP Barry O’Rourke, Ms Mawson is believed to have the union vote.

Preselection votes will be counted on Wednesday night.

When Mr Albanese was in Brisbane last week, he announced four Queensland candidates – for Mr Dutton’s seat of Dickson, the Greens-held seats of Ryan and Brisbane, and the LNP’s Forde – but was coy when asked whether he was planning an early election.