The ABC has found Warren Entsch promoted his involvement in funding decisions with companies that hired his wife, but did not declare any potential conflictHis wife Yolonde Entsch is running as the LNP candidate for the seat of Cairns in the October state election
The campaign material pointed to Ms Entsch's record of charity work in helping the disadvantaged by working with not-for-profits and businesses, including in Indigenous communities.Some of these entities — including a government contractor and an environmental foundation — have employed Ms Entsch while they received federal funding.
An LNP spokesperson for Ms Entsch referred all questions relating to Mr Entsch's declarations and her work back to her husband.Between about 2017 and 2019, one business Ms Entsch worked for was training and job provider My Pathway, owned by the private company Enterprise Management Group . "The Torres Strait community told me this is what they wanted moving forward and I have delivered it,'' Mr Entsch said in the 2019 media release.
Ms Entsch promoted the face-painting classes as giving young people the skills needed to "generate income" from face-painting.A post on a My Pathway Facebook page promoted the workshops as an opportunity for participants to "make some cash" in future. In June 2018 he said he'd been "working closely" with My Pathway to ensure a historic church on Erub Island in Torres Strait was restored.
The contracts were awarded by departments not associated with Mr Entsch and he has said he was not involved with the awarding of these contracts. He criticised the ABC for asking questions about the scenario, saying: "Clearly the polling is looking positive for Yolonde's opportunity to win the seat of Cairns."
My Pathway said this week that the business had briefly worked with EWEC supporting remote communities. On December 20, 2016, Mr Entsch said he "supported" the Cairns-based Reef and Rainforest Research Centre to receive $400,000 in federal funding for stage two of a Building Resilience in Treaty Villages program.
The RRRC said Ms Entsch's contract was worth $40,000 and ran from September 2016 to December 2017, involved collecting hand linen and reusable menstrual pads for disadvantaged women in PNG in the treaty villages. "Instead of trying to rake up mud, you should take some time and have a look at the outstanding work that they did not only in PNG but also the fantastic work they have done with their Great Barrier Reef initiatives."