Premier Baird and wife Karen Rebuilding NSW infrastructure to meet the challenges of the future "I think in 10 years time we’ll look back and realise that we were part of a very exciting era for this City and State"- Premier Baird 2/8/2015 (Translation of this article appears in Arabic section) Sydney - M.E. TIMES Int'l: Premier Mike Baird was the chief guest at the annual Australian-Lebanese Chamber of Commerce business luncheon in partnership with Arab Bank Australia and Etihad Airlines and sponsored by the Property Investment Alliance. Elected leader of the NSW Liberal Party in April 2014 and sworn in on the same day as the state’s 44th Premier, Mr Baird is also the Minister for Western Sydney and represented Manly in the NSW Parliament since 2007. Before he was elected to parliament, Mr Baird was Head of Institutional Banking for HSBC in Australia and New Zealand. President Joe Khattar Greeted the audience
Premier Baird and Joe Khattar Welcome H.E George Bitar Ghanem, Consul General of Lebanon; The Hon. Mike Baird, Premier of NSW, and Mrs. Karen Baird; H.E. Milad Raad, Lebanese Charge d’Affaires in Canberra; The Hon. Nickolas Varvaris, Federal Member for Barton; The Hon. John Ajaka MLC, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability Services, and Minister for Multiculturalism; The Hon.Thomas George MP, Deputy Speaker, Member for Lismore; The Hon. John Sidoti, Member for Drummoyne; The Hon. Jihad Dib, Member for Lakemba; Mr Nick Kaldas, NSW Deputy Commissioner of Police and distinguished guests.
LtoR: Mrs Baird, Mr Kaldas, Premier Baird, Ms Rizk, Ms Gabriel, Mr Khattar and Minister Ajaka It is an absolute pleasure to welcome you to this year’s annual business luncheon, we are delighted to have with us this year the Premier of our State, the Hon. Mike Baird who, together with his team of ministers, are doing a great job for this wonderful state of NSW. Many thanks again to our event supporters, Mr. Justin Wang and his team and to the Chamber’s partners, Etihad Airlines and the Arab Bank, and to all our sponsors. The recent working visit of H.E. Ziad Chebib, Governor of the city of Beirut, and the Lebanese Builders and Promoters Association who were invited by the Chamber to both Sydney and Canberra, was another step forward for the Chamber in its effort to promote two way trade between Australia and Lebanon. Excerpts of Speech by Premier Baird Australia is built on multiculturalism and the Lebanese community has played such a significant role in that. I note that 73% of all Lebanese in Australia have made New South Wales their home. 
MP Thomas, Raad, Jabbour, Sawma, Rizk and other guest I can’t think of a more exciting time that we’ve seen here in NSW; indeed my strong prediction is that in 10 years time, we’ll look back and realise that we were part of a very exciting era for this city and state. I don’t think any of us should underestimate the difference that going to be made. Part of the journey we had to do is to get the economy moving and even today I had the opportunity to speak to some that had said there is just optimism on the grounds. There’s a belief that business is growing, there’s a strong sense that NSW is budgeting again. The economy has revived but ultimately that’s just part of the story. I think, where we sit in NSW, that the big thing that we can look forward to in coming years is the difference in infrastructure. 
Premier Baird (C) with Jabbour and Joe Rizk We could take capital and put it towards infrastructure that we desperately need (and you would have seen governments announce infrastructure projects). The problem was the funding never came with it. Your operating balances are limited yet you want to get on and build infrastructure that we desperately need. Over the next four years there will be plenty of disruption; the city is not used to the sort of infrastructure we will be building and we have said that that comes with inconvenience. But obviously we’ll try to minimise the inconvenience and keep our eyes on the prize. But the biggest challenge that we face is clearly health funding. Our health spending is growing at a much faster rate and will continue, over the next 15 years, to grow at a faster rate than revenues will match. That starts to create a significant structural deficit. 
Premier Baird and Justin Wang Lastly I want to also note that we’re not only in a position of rebuilding the state; we also need to ensure how that we rebuild or continue to build our community’s social fabric. There’s no doubt that we are facing increased challenges in this area. Some of the revelations about the extremism that we’re seeing with our kids -- I think all of us are in shock at some of the action that we see. 
MP Sidoti, Harb, S. Khattar, Sawma and M. Rizk I’d like to say the proudest day for me in this job, and the day I could not believe I was in the state, was in those harrowing moments after the siege. Because I saw the community come together like never before. In actions that came to bring hate and division, it actually brought exactly the opposite. They bought peace, they bought unity and all members of the community -- all backgrounds, all faiths, all ages -- came together and said what we have here in NSW is special. |
