Bruce Baird

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Bruce Baird
Member of the Australian Parliament for Cook
In office 3 October 1998 – 17 October 2007
Preceded by	Stephen Mutch
Succeeded by	Scott Morrison
Born	28 February 1942 (1942-02-28) (age 67) Sydney, New South Wales
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Children	Julia Baird, Mike Baird
Alma mater	University of Sydney University of Melbourne
Occupation	Trade commissioner

The Honourable Bruce George Baird (born 28 February 1942), Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from October 1998 to November 2007, representing the electorate of Cook, New South Wales. He 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.

Baird was Assistant Trade Commissioner at the Australian Embassy in Bonn, Germany, 1972-76 and Trade Commissioner at Australian Consulate-General in New York 1977-80. He was Government Affairs Manager for Esso Australia 1980-84.

Baird was a member for the electorate of Northcott in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1984-95. He was Minister for Transport 1988-95, Minister for Sydney's Olympic Bid 1990-93 and Minister for Tourism and Roads 1993-95. He was also deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 1992 to 1994. He also held the positions of chairman of the National Rail Corporation, and was a board member of ABN Amro Hoare Govett, Tourism Training Australia and Tourism Education Services.^[1]

Baird has been linked to the ultra-conservative group called The Family. US investigative journalist Jeff Shalit spent time living with members of The Family at their headquarters at Ivanwald and mentions "Andrew" — 'a balding Australian whosaid he'd come to Ivanwald at the recommendation of a conservative Australian politician named Burce Baird'.^[2]

His children include Julia Baird, newspaper columnist with the Sydney Morning Herald, and Mike Baird, Liberal member for Manly in the NSW Legislative Assembly since the 2007 NSW state election and the Liberal Opposition's Treasury Spokesman.

In April 2007 he announced that he would retire at the next election.^[3] A fierce battle over his successor ensued; Michael Towke was initially preselected as the Liberal candidate, but was subsequently disendorsed and replaced with Scott Morrison, who went on to win the seat.

[edit] Notes

Parliament of New South Wales
Preceded by Jim Cameron	Member for Northcott 1984–1995	Succeeded by Barry O'Farrell
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Stephen Mutch	Member for Cook 1998–2007	Succeeded by Scott Morrison

Persondata
NAME	Baird, Bruce George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH	28 February 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH