Ladies and gentlemen.

To begin these evening’s addresses by our two parliamentary leaders, it is my pleasure to introduce Barry O’Farrell.

Barry was first elected as the Member for Northcott in 1995 succeeding the Hon Bruce Baird, and subsequently re-elected as the Member for Ku-ring-gai in 1999, 2003 and 2007.

During his almost 16 years in the NSW State Parliament, he was given the 10 shadow portfolios – Small Business, Information Technology, Innovation, Transport, Education and Training, Health, Ports and Waterways, Treasury, Western Sydney, and State. He has also held the parliamentary roles of Shadow Leader of the House, and has currently served as the NSW Leader of the Opposition since April 2007. Barry was previously the Liberal Party’s State Director from 1992 to 1995.

As a young boy, with his father in the army, Barry and his family would travel and live in Canberra, in Melbourne, in a few other places in Australia before ending up in Darwin. Without permanence, one of his childhood regrets is always having been a cub scout but never a scout. And with a string of recent natural disasters in Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and even now Christchurch, New Zealand, a very young Barry and his family had experienced Cyclone Tracey that decimated Darwin, salvaging what they had, including a small collection of family photographs.

Over 15 years ago, in 1995, as a MP, Barry made his maiden speech which today may give NSW a peek into what he may be like after the upcoming state election:

(quote) “Liberal Party members ask just one thing of their elected members: to do all we can to ensure victory at the next election.”

(quote) “government must adapt to changing circumstances in a never-static society”

And my personal favourite (quote) “I am not comfortable or satisfied with those who seek to portray Liberal philosophy as simply being opposed to Labor, the flip side of the same coin”

He went on to say that Nick Greiner won 23 years ago not just because Labor was tired or corrupt or had brought in unpopular legislation. He said that Nick Greiner won because he was putting forward a program of reforms, policies for more responsive government and for smaller governments which resonated with the wider community.

In 1998, Barry shared his Australian multicultural experience while growing up in Darwin. Some of my fellow students at school were from Bathurst Island and Melville Island, and in those politically incorrect times they were called full-blooded Aboriginals. Some became Labor MPs in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Some made their mark in Australian Rules football. And some of his fellow students were Chinese after the long settlement of Chinese in northern Australia. Of note, the City of Darwin even produced Australia’s first Chinese-Australian Lord Mayor, Alec Fong Lim, whose son Barry went to school with.

Darwin also had a strong Lebanese community, a large Timorese community. From a multicultural perspective, Barry grew up with all those people. So to Barry, he didn’t see multiculturalism as an “ism” but just a normal way of life, associating with people as human beings.

It is therefore worthy of note that in 1995 as State Director, Barry ensured that the Liberal Party put the Australian Against Further Immigration Party last on its how to vote ballot card. And he supported the Liberal Party in putting One Nation last on its how-to-vote card at the Federal election and the State election.

With only 30 days to go before the NSW State Election, on behalf of the Chinese Australian Forum, what will we see from a Coalition Government? What can we expect from Barry O’Farrell as the aspirant Premier of NSW? What kind of NSW will we be over the next 4 years and beyond?

To answer these questions, would you please welcome Barry O’Farrell, the NSW Leader of the Opposition.

Thank you.

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