1. Barry Robert O'Farrell was born on 24 May 1959 and is an Australian former politician who was Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan from February 2020 to 30 June 2023.
56 Facts About Barry O'Farrell
1. 2.
Barry O'Farrell was the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party from 2007 to 2014, and was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 2015, representing Northcott until 1999 and representing Ku-ring-gai on the Upper North Shore of Sydney from 1999 to 2015.
3.
Barry O'Farrell was President and Independent Board Chair of Diabetes Australia, Chair of the Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Club and CEO of Racing Australia Ltd until taking up his role in India.
4.
In 1977 Barry O'Farrell moved to Canberra to study at the Australian National University, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts.
5.
Barry O'Farrell started his career as a graduate trainee in the Australian Public Service in Canberra.
6.
Barry O'Farrell served as the State Director of the party in New South Wales from 1992 to 1995.
7.
At the 1995 New South Wales election, Barry O'Farrell was elected to the safe Liberal seat of Northcott in northern Sydney.
8.
Barry O'Farrell joined the Shadow Ministry in 1998 and served two periods as Deputy Leader.
9.
Debnam withdrew from the contest on the day of the ballot and Barry O'Farrell was elected unopposed as the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and consequently as Leader of the Opposition.
10.
Barry O'Farrell became Premier in a landslide at the 2011 election, winning the largest majority government in New South Wales history.
11.
On 16 April 2014, Barry O'Farrell announced his intention to resign as party leader and NSW Premier as well as Minister for Western Sydney after misleading a New South Wales Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation.
12.
Barry O'Farrell formally resigned on 17 April as Liberal Party leader and on 24 November 2014, O'Farrell announced his intention not to stand for re-election at the 2015 NSW election.
13.
The youngest of three children, Barry Robert O'Farrell was born to Kevin and Mae O'Farrell in the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, on 24 May 1959.
14.
Barry O'Farrell is descended from Irish immigrants who arrived in Victoria in the 1860s; and his paternal grandfather was an officer in the Victoria Police Force in Ballarat.
15.
In 1977 Barry O'Farrell began studying at the Australian National University in Canberra, residing at Ursula College.
16.
In May 1988, Barry O'Farrell was employed as Chief of Staff for Bruce Baird, a cabinet minister in the New South Wales government.
17.
Barry O'Farrell gave his maiden speech in Parliament on 19 September 1995.
18.
When his seat of Northcott was abolished in the 1998 redistribution, Barry O'Farrell decided to contest the equally safe seat of Ku-ring-gai, which had been vacated by the sitting member, Stephen O'Doherty, who had moved to contest the seat of Hornsby following the redistribution.
19.
Barry O'Farrell represented Northcott until its abolition on 26 March 1999.
20.
When Ron Phillips was defeated at the election, thereby vacating the Deputy Leadership, Barry O'Farrell stood for the position and was elected on 31 March 1999, defeating Chris Hartcher by one vote.
21.
At the 1999 republic referendum, Barry O'Farrell voted against the proposal for Australia to become a republic with a president elected by the Parliament of Australia.
22.
In 2007, referring to his vote, Barry O'Farrell stated "I'm not going to buy something that I don't believe is a better deal".
23.
However, when John Brogden deposed Chikarovski as Leader on 28 March 2002, Barry O'Farrell lost the Deputy Leadership, eleven votes to nine, to Chris Hartcher.
24.
Barry O'Farrell was sacked from the shadow ministry but, on 1 September 2002, after six months on the backbench Barry O'Farrell was appointed by Brogden as Shadow Minister for Education and Training and Shadow Special Minister of State.
25.
When it was apparent that Debnam did not have enough support to keep his post, he opted not to recontest, leaving Barry O'Farrell to take the leadership unopposed.
26.
Barry O'Farrell later appointed himself Shadow Minister for Western Sydney in the Shadow Ministry.
27.
In June 2008, Newspoll reported that Barry O'Farrell led Morris Iemma in the preferred premier stakes.
28.
In 2008, Barry O'Farrell led by-election campaigns in Lakemba, Ryde, and Cabramatta where the Coalition recorded the largest by-election swing against Labor in its history.
29.
On 2 September 2009, in the wake of the resignation of Labor's John Della Bosca following an affair, Barry O'Farrell introduced a motion of no confidence on the Premier Nathan Rees and the NSW Government.
30.
In late 2010, following the government announcement of the sale of NSW's electricity assets, Barry O'Farrell called for a judicial inquiry into the matter.
31.
Barry O'Farrell was sworn in as Premier by the Governor of New South Wales, Marie Bashir, on 28 March 2011.
32.
Barry O'Farrell ensured the wages cap applied to Members of Parliament and even secured agreement from the Governor, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir, for the limit to apply to her wage increases.
33.
Barry O'Farrell then managed to increase the minimum term to five years; Barry O'Farrell himself would not eligible for the full pension and neither will Gladys and many others.
34.
Barry O'Farrell fulfilled his election promise to repeal the controversial powers granted under part 3A of the Planning and Assessment Act that allowed the government to over-ride decisions by local councils about major developments.
35.
Barry O'Farrell then appointed former Liberal Premier Nick Greiner as its Chairman.
36.
On 13 May 2011, the Barry O'Farrell Government moved to retrospectively change commercial contracts relating to the Solar Rebate Scheme that saw eligible households paid a gross feed-in tariff of 60 cents a kilowatt hour.
37.
On 7 October 2011, Barry O'Farrell announced that the Governor of New South Wales, Marie Bashir, would live in Government House, 15 years after Premier Bob Carr's decision to not have the governor live there, arguing "that's what it was built for".
38.
In 2013, during a meeting with then Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, Barry O'Farrell secured agreement for a second sister state relationship.
39.
At the December 2012 Council of Australian Governments meeting, Barry O'Farrell reached agreement with Prime Minister Gillard, for NSW to become the first state or territory to secure funding for the full rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
40.
At a joint media conference with Gillard, Barry O'Farrell praised the efforts of his Minister for Ageing and Disabilities Andrew Constance in helping to finalise the deal.
41.
On 19 April 2013, Barry O'Farrell expressed support for legalising same-sex marriage, on the ground of individual freedom, after it had been legalised in New Zealand.
42.
Barry O'Farrell urged federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott to allow a conscience vote on same-sex marriage in the federal parliament.
43.
At the inquiry, it was alleged that Barry O'Farrell had received a A$3,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage wine from an AWH executive, which he had failed to declare.
44.
On 16 April 2014, Barry O'Farrell stated in a press conference that he had had "a massive memory fail" and he still could not explain a gift that he had "no recollection of".
45.
The Counsel assisting the Commission reiterated there was no suggestion Barry O'Farrell engaged in corrupt conduct.
46.
On 24 November 2014, Barry O'Farrell announced his intention not to stand for re-election at the 2015 NSW election, and he retired from politics at that election.
47.
Barry O'Farrell initiated the sister State relationship between New South Wales and Maharashtra in 2012.
48.
Barry O'Farrell left these three positions on 31 December 2018 to take on a new not-for-profit role with Diabetes Australia.
49.
On 7 December 2016, the board of Racing Australia announced that Barry O'Farrell had been appointed as the organisation's CEO.
50.
Barry O'Farrell commenced in the full-time position in early 2017.
51.
On 12 March 2019, it was announced that Barry O'Farrell had been appointed Chair of Wests Tigers, the NRL football club.
52.
On 21 May 2020, Barry O'Farrell presented his commission to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, in India's first-ever virtual credentials ceremony.
53.
On 15 November 2020, Barry O'Farrell sparked an outcry when he met Mohan Bhagwat, the leader of the far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a paramilitary group which has been implicated in large-scale religious riots and other acts of extremist violence.
54.
On 7 October 2022, Barry O'Farrell presented his credentials as ambassador to the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, at Tashichho Dzong in Thimphu.
55.
Barry O'Farrell was vice patron of the Sir David Martin Foundation and patron of the RSPCA NSW Branch.
56.
Barry O'Farrell is a supporter of NRL club the Wests Tigers, of which he was appointed chairman of in 2019.