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Twitter reacts to Mike Baird’s resignation

HE LIVED and died by Twitter, so it’s no surprise that’s where Mike Baird announced his resignation — and where people are having the most fun at his expense.

Dana McCauleyDana McCauley
2 min read
January 19, 2017 - 12:31PM
Mike Baird was a master of social media.
Mike Baird was a master of social media.

HE LIVED and died by Twitter, so it’s no surprise that Premier Mike Baird has announced his resignation on the platform.

And the people of NSW have responded in kind, with constituents taking aim at the man known pejoratively as “Casino Mike” with sarcastic tweets heralding his demise — along with the odd message of support.

Despite being one of the most divisive politicians to run the state, with his controversial policies on greyhound racing, the WestConnex motorway, casinos and lockout laws stirring up discontent, Mr Baird maintained a brilliantly relatable social media profile.

The 44th NSW premier has 65,100 Twitter followers and 116,465 Facebook likes, allowing him to project a carefully crafted — but seemingly natural — image of a slightly dorky dad.

His political messages are interspersed with off-the-cuff tweets about sports, health mishaps and reality television — like these gems from November 2015, when his commentary on The Bachelor had his followers in stitches.

In August last year, Mr Baird shared an X-ray showing a fractured vertebrae he suffered after a fall at home, poking fun at himself with the caption: “Note to self: when fetching a glass of water late at night, don’t walk down the stairs in your socks with the lights out ... Yeah, I know … The punchlines for this pretty much write themselves … Knock yourselves out (I almost did!)”

Other everyman-style posts included a Australia Day selfie with two Brazilian expats, a grinning self portrait emerging from the ocean after a morning swim and nostalgic father-and-daughter pics to mark his little girl’s school formal.

When he lost a bet with his Queensland counterpart Annastacia Palaszczuk about the State of Origin result, Mr Baird donned a Maroons jersey in Parliament— only to rip it off revealing a Blues jersey underneath— sharing the moment on Twitter.

Mike Baird with his daughter at the Taylor Swift show in Sydney. Photo: Facebook
Mike Baird with his daughter at the Taylor Swift show in Sydney. Photo: Facebook

When he joined more than 75,000 Taylor Swift fans at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium for the final leg of Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour in November 2015, Mr Baird posted another parental selfie: “A great thing about having daughters: you can pretend THEY’RE the reason you are at the Taylor Swift concert.”

And during the December 2015 memorial to Sydney siege victims Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, he tweeted the sensitive and moving message: “Today we weep, but also know that hope will triumph over hate.”

But he didn’t always get it right in social media land. A copy and paste error in March last year revealed the extent to which Mr Baird’s twitter feed was carefully managed by his minders.

In response to the Belgium terror attacks he tweeted: “Tweet/FB option. Sydney, and all of NSW, stands with you Brussels” — the first line presumably advice from a media adviser.

The errant tweet was quickly removed and replaced.

dana.mccauley@news.com.au

Originally published as Twitter reacts to Mike Baird’s resignation

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Original URL: https://www.thechronicle.com.au/business/work/mike-bairds-most-memorable-tweets/news-story/d730f013f036592fce82c4f186b0e36a