Barry O'Farrell

The Honourable
Barry O'Farrell
AO
O'Farrell in 2020
Australian High Commissioner to India
In office
21 May 2020 – 30 June 2023
Preceded byHarinder Sidhu
Succeeded byPhilip Green
43rd Premier of New South Wales
Elections: 2011
In office
28 March 2011 – 17 April 2014
MonarchElizabeth II
GovernorMarie Bashir
DeputyAndrew Stoner
Preceded byKristina Keneally
Succeeded byMike Baird
19th Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party
In office
4 April 2007 – 17 April 2014
DeputyJillian Skinner
Preceded byPeter Debnam
Succeeded byMike Baird
35th Leader of the Opposition in New South Wales
In office
4 April 2007 – 28 March 2011
PremierMorris Iemma
Nathan Rees
Kristina Keneally
DeputyJillian Skinner
Preceded byPeter Debnam
Succeeded byJohn Robertson
Member of the New South Wales Parliament
for Ku-ring-gai
In office
27 March 1999 – 6 March 2015
Preceded byStephen O'Doherty
Succeeded byAlister Henskens
Majority37%[1]
Member of the New South Wales Parliament
for Northcott
In office
25 March 1995 – 26 March 1999
Preceded byBruce Baird
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Barry Robert O'Farrell

(1959-05-24) 24 May 1959 (age 65)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLiberal
SpouseRosemary Cowan (1992–present)[2]
ResidenceTurramurra[3]
EducationSt John's College, Darwin
Australian National University
WebsiteLiberal member website

Barry Robert O'Farrell AO (born 24 May 1959) 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.[4] O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minister for Western Sydney from 2011 to 2014. He 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. He 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.

Born in Melbourne, his father's Army career saw O'Farrell and his family move around Australia, ending up in Darwin in the Northern Territory. In 1977 O'Farrell moved to Canberra to study at the Australian National University, where he gained a Bachelor of Arts. O'Farrell started his career as a graduate trainee in the Australian Public Service in Canberra. O'Farrell served as the State Director of the party in New South Wales from 1992 to 1995.

At the 1995 New South Wales election, O'Farrell was elected to the safe Liberal seat of Northcott in northern Sydney. Following the seat's abolition in the 1998 redistribution he secured selection for the equally safe seat of Ku-ring-gai in 1999 and held it until 2015. O'Farrell joined the Shadow Ministry in 1998 and served two periods as Deputy Leader (1999–2002 and 2003–2007). Following the Liberal-Nationals' defeat at the 2007 state election (their fourth in a row), O'Farrell challenged Peter Debnam for the Liberal leadership. Debnam withdrew from the contest on the day of the ballot and O'Farrell was elected unopposed as the Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and consequently as Leader of the Opposition. He became Premier in a landslide at the 2011 election, winning the largest majority government in New South Wales history.

On 16 April 2014, 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 (ICAC) investigation.[5][6][7] ICAC subsequently found "that there was no intention on Mr O'Farrell's part to mislead".[8] He 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.

  1. ^ "ABC Elections Guide". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 29 March 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lean was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "The Hon. Barry Robert O'Farrell". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  4. ^ "High Commissioner to India". foreignminister.gov.au. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  5. ^ "NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell to resign over 'massive memory fail' at ICAC". ABC News. Australia. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  6. ^ McClymont, Kate; Whitbourn, Michaela (17 April 2014). "Premier's fate sealed in own handwriting". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  7. ^ Grattan, Michelle (16 April 2014). "Barry O'Farrell quits as NSW Premier over ICAC 'memory fail'". The Conversation. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  8. ^ "NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell may now rue the day he resigned over a bottle of red". NewsComAu. 3 August 2017.