Showing posts with label Mike Baird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Baird. Show all posts

Thursday 2 March 2017

Remember the NSW Premier who needed to urgently & immediately retire because he was needed by his family?


On  19 January 2017 then Liberal MP for Manly and NSW Premier Michael Bruce 'Mike' Baird announced that due to serious illness in his extended family he needed to quit politics right now.

Despite a generous parliamentary pension calculated on 9 years & 10 months as a member of parliament, 7 years as a shadow minister, over 4 years as a minister and 2 yrs, 9 months & 7 days as state premier, he immediately started to look for a high powered job in the private sector.

Forty days later it was reported that Baird had been made part of National Australia Bank's senior executive team as head of its corporate and institutional banking division.

Where his parliamentary pension will be topped up by a NAB annual remuneration package which includes cash salary in the vicinity of $1 million (based on executive remuneration in NAB 2016 Annual Financial Reportand benefits such as superannuation and performance rights. 

A cash salary around three times more than he received as NSW premier.

It seems that having decided that he didn't want to fulfil his commitment to his electorate and serve his full term Mike Baird came up with a 'reason' for going that doesn't bear close scrutiny.

One again a Liberal Party politician played New South Wales voters for fools.

UPDATE

According to one South Australian reader on 1 March 2017 Mike Baird admitted to the ABC that his total annual remuneration package was $2 million.

Friday 27 March 2015

Is NSW Premier Baird trying to hide the Chinese connection in his electricity network privatisation plans?


The Sydney Morning Herald 26 March 2015:

A Chinese government-owned energy company that is a potential buyer of NSW electricity assets, State Grid Corp, was the subject of a "major" state audit last year which uncovered allegations of corruption amounting to more than $1 billion.

As Premier Mike Baird on Wednesday was asked more questions about the company and its dealings with the NSW government it has emerged that State Grid Corp's president, Liu Zhenya, was named as a key focus of the probe.

Mr Baird's office confirmed that a State Grid Corp executive, Shu Yinbiao, was one of those present at a business roundtable addressed by Mr Baird during his trip to China in September, not its president Mr Liu as previously advised……

However, the Wall Street Journal said in June the audit, which also involved another state-owned electricity company, China Southern Power Grid Company, focused on contracts for a west-to-east electricity transmission system.

The newspaper said China's national audit agency alleged that "more than $1 billion was misappropriated in less than four months [during 2013] in the construction and running of portions of a major electricity grid system".

Asked if Mr Baird knew about the revelations before his China visit, his office said it had "no further comment".

Fairfax Media can reveal that State Grid Corp's attendance at a roundtable addressed by Mr Baird was omitted from an official report on his trade trip to China last year.

Mr Baird on Wednesday repeatedly refused to detail meetings held during the trip to China last September, which aimed to drum up interest in NSW infrastructure projects.

The Coalition government's plan to partially lease the electricity "poles and wires" and spend the proceeds on infrastructure is the centrepiece of its re-election campaign…..

Under Mr Baird's reforms to political lobbying, ministers are required to publish details of external meetings.

But on Wednesday Mr Baird said the rules did not apply to trips abroad, saying "there's a different process for international trips, that's well established".

A spokesman for Mr Baird later said the Department of Premier and Cabinet had been advised that details of ministers' meetings on official overseas missions "should not be disclosed through the ministerial diary process as there is appropriate disclosure of such meetings through mission reports".

However the mission report from Mr Baird's China trip does not mention a meeting with State Grid Corp.

Asked later on Wednesday why the meeting was omitted, Mr Baird said he had complied with disclosure obligations for overseas trips.

At the news conference he declined to say who else was at the September roundtable meeting.

"I am not going to go into individual meetings. As Treasurer and Premier I met with hundreds if not thousands [of potential investors]. My job is to encourage investment into NSW," he said…..

Monday 23 March 2015

So just how different are NSW Premier Mike Baird and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott?


Photograph from The Daily Telegraph, Tony Abbott (left) and Mike Baird (right)

Michael Bruce "Mike" Baird MP         Anthony John “Tony” Abbott

Liberal Premier of NSW                       Liberal Prime Minister of Australia

State Member for Manly                       Federal Member for Warringah
on Sydney’s North Shore                     on Sydney’s North Shore

Born April 1968 in Melbourne                  Born November 1957 in London
Almost 48 years old                                58 years old

Attended an exclusive private school,     Attended an exclusive private school,
King’s School                                          St Ignatius College

Bachelor of Arts (Economics)                  Bachelor of Arts (Economics)  
University of Sydney                                Bachelor of Laws      
                                                                 University of Sydney                
                                                                 Master of Arts (PPE)
                                                                 Oxford University

Studied theology with a view                   Studied theology with a view
to becoming an Anglican minister            to becoming a Catholic priest
Regent College, British Columbia            St. Patrick’s Seminary, Sydney

Member of Queenscliff Surf Life              Member of Queenscliff Surf Life 
SavingClub                                              Saving Club

Sometimes boxes for exercise                 Former recreational boxer

Lives in federal electorate                         Lives in federal electorate
of Warringah at Fairlight, NSW                  of Warringah at Forestville, NSW

Announced a budget deficit in 2014-15     Announced a budget deficit in 2014-15
in his first state budget as Premier             in his first federal budget as Prime Minister

Has a policy of privatization of                   Has a policy of privatization of
state assets                                                state assets

Supports petroleum & mineral exploration   Supports petroleum & mineral exploration
including coal seam gas                               including coal seam gas

Cut public service jobs as                           Cut public service jobs as
NSW Treasurer                                           Australian Prime Minister

Sometimes avoids press questions             Frequently avoids press questions 
after a  media announcement                      after a media announcement

"And what a pleasure it is to stand here in   “Mike Baird, my friend, my local 
front of a friend of mine –                             parliamentary colleague” [March 2013]
the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott."                “outstanding individual” [April 2014]
 [March 2015]                                               I have known Mike for many years
"Tony and I are mates.” [February 2015]     and I know he will discharge
“If everybody had the chance to sit down     his responsibilities with integrity and 
one  on one with Tony Abbott, they would    honour" [April 2014]
come away a fan” [March 2015]