Life goes on for Austin Evans, who was the former Member for Murray before he lost the state election nearly six months ago.
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I still have a desire to serve the community
- Austin Evans, former Member for Murray
After leaving office Mr Evans went on a job hunt and soon found work driving tractors and transporting cotton modules on farms around Coleambally.
That helped pay the bills while he set up his engineering contracting business, which is now up and running.
He's recently found his first contracting gig with his old employer Coleambally Irrigation, where he draws upon his engineering know-how to write reports and help out around the place.
Mr Evans said he's enjoyed getting back to his old engineering roots, which used to be his main career before he went into politics.
"Engineering allows you to sit down one one project and get stuck into it," Mr Evans said.
"It's very difficult to do that in parliament because you have so many issues to cover. You rely a lot on ministers and departmental staff to fix those issues."
Although Mr Evans said he's enjoying the quieter engineering life, he says he still hasn't ruled out the idea of getting back into politics one of these days.
He recently ran for a seat in the NSW Legislative Council that became vacant after former Nationals MLC Niall Blair announced his surprise retirement from politics.
Mr Evans didn't get the position, but he said he hasn't completely given up on the idea of re-contesting the seat of Murray at the next state election.
"I still have a desire to serve the community," Mr Evans said.
"I'll see what I'm doing in three year's time."
Life goes on in the meantime, and even six months after the state election, Mr Evans still gets asked about his time in office and what it was like serving as the Murray's representative in parliament.
Looking back at his time in office, Mr Evans said it had been one long hectic adventure.
In 16 months he travelled 85,000 kilometres and spoken to thousands upon thousands of people in the enormous Murray electorate.
"It was, in a word, busy," he said.
But despite the long hours on the road and in the office, Mr Evans said he could look back on his time with a sense of satisfaction.
Kenji Sato
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
Kenji Sato is a handsome journalist at The Daily Advertiser who enjoys writing flattering bios about himself in the third person. He can be contacted by email at kenji.sato@dailyadvertiser.com.au or by mobile on 0448 927 612.
