page_title: Barry O'Farrell
section_title: Leader of the Opposition (2007–11)
hierarchical_section_title: Barry O'Farrell / Leader of the Opposition (2007–11)
caption_attribution_description: English: Barry O'Farrell's office, Wahroonga, Sydney
context_page_description: Barry Robert O'Farrell AO is a former Australian politician who is Australia's High Commissioner to India since May 2020. 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. His resignation came after he was caught by the independent commission against corruption when he denied receiving an expensive bottle of red wine from a wealthy donor. After denying he had received it, a photo of his praise note to the donor with his signature and letterhead from the office of the premier was leaked. He is currently President and Independent Board Chair of Diabetes Australia, Chair of the Wests Tigers Rugby League Football Club and CEO of Racing Australia Ltd.
  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.
context_section_description: After the Liberals were defeated in the 2007 state election, O'Farrell announced his intention to challenge Debnam for party leadership. When it was apparent that Debnam did not have enough support to keep his post, he opted not to recontest, leaving O'Farrell to take the leadership unopposed. Jillian Skinner was elected Deputy Leader. He later appointed himself Shadow Minister for Western Sydney in the Shadow Ministry.
  In June 2008, Newspoll reported that O'Farrell led Morris Iemma in the preferred premier stakes.
  In 2008, 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. The Liberals achieved a swing of 22.7% in Cabramatta and 13% in Lakemba. Ryde, once a safe Labor seat, was taken by Liberal Victor Dominello on a swing of 23.1%.
  On 2 September 2009, in the wake of the resignation of Labor's John Della Bosca following an affair, O'Farrell introduced a motion of no confidence on the Premier Nathan Rees and the NSW Government. O'Farrell was hoping to push an early election saying that "The job of changing New South Wales for the better needs to start today. The best thing that Nathan Rees could do is to allow the people to have their say through an early election". The motion was put to the house but defeated on party lines. Despite this, all independent members of the Legislative Assembly voted for the motion.
  In June 2010, the Liberals' Stuart Ayres won the Penrith by-election with a swing of 25%. The by-election was caused by the resignation of Karyn Paluzzano after she admitted to lying to the ICAC about abusing her parliamentary expenses. A jubilant O'Farrell stated, "What we've seen this evening is the Liberal Party win its first seat in Western Sydney in 20 years. It demonstrates once and for all that Labor does not have a lock on Western Sydney."
  In August 2010, independent MP and lord mayor of Sydney Clover Moore introduced the Adoption Amendment (Same Sex Couples) Bill as a private member's bill, which, among other things, had the purpose of giving same-sex couples the right to adopt as a couple instead of as individuals. Both O'Farrell and Premier Kristina Keneally allowed a conscience vote on the bill. O'Farrell supported the reforms: "I support this measure today ... for the sake of children but also because I don't believe our society should exclude because of gender, sexuality, faith, background or some other factor, people who have a contribution they can make... That's not the free and confident society I seek." The bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly 46 votes to 44.
  In late 2010, following the government announcement of the sale of NSW's electricity assets, O'Farrell called for a judicial inquiry into the matter. After rejecting a judicial inquiry, Premier Kristina Keneally shut down or "prorogued" Parliament early to try to stop a parliamentary inquiry announced by O'Farrell. O'Farrell maintained pressure on the issue over the Christmas/New Year period arguing the public had a right to know whether fair price had been achieved, why eight directors had resigned over the sale and what impact the sale would have on power bills. On 6 January, Keneally bowed to pressure and agreed to attend an inquiry she had earlier called "unconstitutional".
  
  On the eve of the 2011 election, ABC radio reported that NSW Labor could be facing "the biggest loss in Australian political history", with the statewide swing predicted at between 16 and 18 points. Asked to define himself ideologically, O'Farrell told the ABC: 
  I describe myself as a classic Liberal. You know, ascribe to those Liberal principles but like Menzies believe that the role of government is to apply the principles, the plans, the policies to an issue that suit the times. So Menzies used to say that it must be great being an ideologue because it saves time thinking. Menzies wanted to deliver real change, wanted to deliver real solutions and that's where I put myself.
  The Coalition were unbackable favourites to win the 2011 election; by the tim
caption: O'Farrell's Ku-ring-gai electorate office in Wahroonga.
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