NSW Premier Mike Baird resigned because “he doesn’t have the ticker to face the people at the next election”, Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle said on Thursday.
Responding to Mr Baird’s shock resignation, the Labor MP said he “is retiring because he no longer enjoys record popularity in the polls and doesn’t have the ticker to face the people at the next election”.
But Ms Doyle’s predecessor, former Liberal MP Roza Sage, said she was “appalled but not surprised at the comments made by the invisible Member for Blue Mountains”.
“They clearly reflect the character and calibre of the person. She would have done better to take a leaf out of the NSW Opposition Leader’s book who thanked Mike Baird for his service to the state,” she said.
Ms Doyle made her comments on Thursday morning before Mr Baird’s press conference where he cited family pressures as one of the reasons behind his resignation.
“I am disappointed but I am not surprised by the news Mike Baird is resigning,” she said. “Here is a Premier who has tried to privatise every public asset and government agency, he has failed to fund our hospitals, he is neglecting public schools across the state, he has decimated TAFE, he has closed women’s refuges. The list of his non-achievements and failures just goes on and on.”
She also posted on her Facebook page: “He [Mr Baird] is retiring because he has decided that the voters of New South Wales are a bunch of ingrates and if he isn't going to be Mr Popularity he will just take his bat and his ball and go home.”
But Mrs Sage said Mr Baird’s leadership “made it possible for the State to invest much needed funds into building new infrastructure as well as providing money for the neediest schools by signing to the Gonski agreement”.
“Resigning from the top position in NSW for the sake of his family would have been a very difficult decision,” she said.
“He is a man of integrity, honesty and compassion which he demonstrated with his strong support of the Blue Mountains community and me personally when I was the Member for Blue Mountains especially during the 2013 bushfires. On my invitation he toured the fire affected areas and met with affected residents. Again when Premier he assisted when I made a personal plea to him to re-instate the sewage subsidy as I had hit a bureaucratic impasse with progressing payments. He came through with his promise and it was re-instated.”
Mr Baird announced his resignation on Thursday, saying he “was in politics to make a difference, and then move on”.
"We have repaired the State budget, rejuvenated the economy, created jobs in unprecedented numbers, boosted frontline services and unleashed an infrastructure boom in Sydney and the regions, which everyone can see with their own eyes,” he said.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley said: "I want to thank Mike for his service to the state. It's the greatest of honours to serve as Premier of NSW. I wish him and his lovely family all the best."
