Barry O'Farrell

Recent Speaker

Leader of the Opposition NSW

February 9, 2011

"Injecting Competition and Collaboration into COAG"

Barry O'Farrell was born in Melbourne in 1959. His father's Army service saw the family move to Darwin where he completed his schooling before moving to Canberra to study politics, Australian history and aboriginal studies at ANU. Barry is married to Rosemary and they reside at Roseville with their two sons, a dog and a cat.

 

In 1980 Barry joined the Liberal Party. He served as Private Secretary to John Howard from 1985 and 1988 before moving to Sydney to become Chief of Staff to then Transport Minister Bruce Baird. He entered NSW Parliament in 1995, serving in various Opposition frontbench roles including Transport, Health and Treasury. He was elected unopposed as Opposition Leader in April 2007.

 

NSW is Australia's premier state and the engine room of the Australian economy. As Leader of the NSW Liberals & Nationals Coalition Barry will outline his plans to Make NSW Number One Again in particular the role NSW should play in driving the national reform agenda. He will also articulate an alternative COAG agenda if elected in March 2011, including the injection of more competition and collaboration into COAG to achieve better outcomes for NSW.