Mike Baird cranks up his shark attack tale at a Christian beer-tasting event

MIKE Baird, while enjoying a cold one at a recent Christian beer-tasting event, spiced up his famous yarn about the time he was nearly eaten by a shark.

Premier Mike Baird at Manly Beach

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EVERYONE knows fishermen love to embellish tales about the ones that got away, especially after a few schooners.

Similarly, Premier Mike Baird, while enjoying a cold one at a recent evangelical Christian beer-tasting event, spiced up his famous yarn about the time he was nearly eaten by a shark.

When previously telling the story, Mr Baird has described how an eight-foot man-eater pounced on him while surfing with mates off Crescent Head, northern NSW.

The Premier’s office clarified that the shark did give Mr Baird’s board a good whack, but did not knock him into the water / Picture: Virginia Young

“Then I turn around and he’s right there looking at me. I could have touched his nose with my hand,” Mr Baird said of the 2014 ­attack. “He tried to knock me off my board; he slapped me with his tail. Then he chased me up the beach.”

But last Friday, speaking to about 400 beer-slurping blokes at “A is for Ale”, an evangelistic beer-tasting event at St Luke’s Anglican Church in Miranda, Mr Baird cranked it up a notch and said the shark actually knocked him off his surfboard.

“I love surfing and about eight years ago I was at Crescent Head and I did everything wrong,” he said.

“I went out at dusk, there were baitfish everywhere and a large shark came up and knocked me off my board.”

The Premier’s office clarified yesterday that the shark did give Mr Baird’s board a good whack, but did not knock him into the water.

“He was sitting on his board, the shark struck the board with its fin, with sufficient force that Mike was knocked from his sitting position, ending up facedown on the board,” a spokesman said.

Guests at the male-only event were served by the women of the church and sampled 10 beers while feasting on pretzels, pizza and sausages prepared with 12kg of wasabi.

When previously telling the story, Mr Baird has described how an eight-foot man-eater pounced on him while surfing with mates.

The women have a wine-tasting night later in the year where the men reciprocate.

Mr Baird discussed his time in banking and Bible college before he realised his calling to be a minister of the parliament rather than the church.

“I became a Christian when I was 18, and I had a strong sense I wanted to contribute to my state, and to my country,” he said, before also telling the audience former PM Tony Abbott has “tunnel vision”.

“Tony has tunnel vision,” Mr Baird said. “He says, ‘If I see a wave I’m going to take it, no matter what.’ He does that in surfing and in life.”

Warren Brown is on leave. This is one of his cartoons from last November.

Something’s fishy about Mike Baird’s shark tale / Picture: Virginia Young