Michael Bruce "Mike" Baird MP, an Australian politician, is the Treasurer of New South Wales

Treasurer of New South Wales

The Treasurer of New South Wales, known from 1856–1959 as the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales, is the minister in the Government of New South Wales responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising and is the head of the New South Wales Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in...

 in the O'Farrell

Barry O'Farrell

Barry Robert O'Farrell MP, is an Australian politician and is the 43rd Premier of New South Wales, Minister for Western Sydney, Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Ku-ring-gai for the Liberal Party since 1999.Born in...

 Government since 2011

New South Wales state election, 2011

Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...

. He is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 representing Manly

Electoral district of Manly

Manly is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It has historically tended to be a Liberal-leaning seat. It is currently represented by the Treasurer of New South Wales, Mike Baird of the Liberal Party of Australia.-Members for Manly:-Election...

 for the Liberal Party of Australia

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...

 since 2007.

Early years and background

Baird is the son of Bruce Baird

Bruce Baird

Bruce George Baird, AM , is a former Australian politician.-Early life:Baird was born in Sydney, and was educated at the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne, holding a master's degree in business administration from the latter...

, a former New South Wales Minister and Member of Parliament, and a former Member of the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

, representing Cook

Division of Cook

The Division of Cook is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. The division was created in 1969 and is named for James Cook, who mapped the east coast of Australia in 1770. It is located in the southern suburbs of Sydney, including Caringbah, Cronulla, Miranda and Sylvania...

 for the Liberal Party. His sister is journalist Julia Baird. Mike Baird is married to Kerryn and together they have had three children; Laura, Cate, and Luke.

Baird joined the National Australia Bank

National Australia Bank

National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers. NAB is ranked 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation...

 (NAB) under a graduate program, working investment banking for Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...

 as a senior manager before spending a year in Canada studying for the Anglican ministry. At age 29, Baird unsuccessfully sought preselection for Manly, and returned to NAB, working in London, before returning to Sydney to work for HSBC Australia

HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...

.

Political career

Baird was elected to the New South Wales Parliament in 2007. After initially serving time in a range of junior shadow ministries, in 2008 Baird was promoted to the position of Shadow Treasurer and touted as a future Liberal leader. Following the election of the O'Farrell government in 2011, Baird was appointed Treasurer, although O'Farrell removed some of Baird's ministerial responsibilities, transferring the authority for land tax, gaming tax, payroll tax, public service superannuation and the Office of State Revenue to Greg Pearce

Greg Pearce (politician)

Greg Pearce BA, LLB MLC, an Australian politician, is the Minister for Finance and Services and the Minister for Illawarra in the New South Wales Government...

, the Minister for Finance and Services.

External links

• The Hon. (Mike) Michael Bruce BAIRD, MP – Parliament of New South Wales
  Parliament of New South Wales
  The Parliament of New South Wales, located in Parliament House on Macquarie Street, Sydney, is the main legislative body in the Australian state of New South Wales . It is a bicameral parliament elected by the people of the state in general elections. The parliament shares law making powers with...