Ted Baillieu

Early life

Ted Baillieu is the youngest son of Darren and Diana Baillieu. He is also the younger brother of solicitor Ian Baillieu, former ABC presenter Fiona Baillieu, author David Baillieu, former journalist and Portsea activist Kate Baillieu (the widow of state Liberal politician Julian Doyle) and Olympic oarsman and America's Cup yachtsman Will Baillieu. His Walloon great-great-great-grandfather, Étienne Lambert Baillieux (1773–1816), migrated to England from Liège, Belgium. The 3rd Baron Baillieu, James William Latham Baillieu (b. 1950) is his third cousin. He is also the great-grandson of Victorian politician William Knox. He was raised in the Melbourne suburb of Toorak and educated at the Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree.

Professional career

He worked as an architect and for a time joined the family real estate firm Baillieu Knight Frank. The Labor Party ran an election advertisement campaign in 2006 and 2010 claiming he profited from Liberal government policies. Baillieu was also employed by Tourism Victoria from 1998 to 1999, before entering politics.

Political career

He joined the Carlton branch of the Liberal Party in 1981 because of his frustration at the power of unions on building sites. By 1987 he was Vice-President of the Victorian Liberal Party and President in 1994. At Jeff Kennett's insistence, Baillieu nominated for Liberal Party preselection for the safe seat of Hawthorn at the 1999 election, to replace the retiring member Phil Gude. Baillieu was preselected, and won the seat at the election. It was at this election that Steve Bracks unexpectedly led the Australian Labor Party to victory, with the support of three country independents, one a former Labor supporter and the other two conservatives.

Baillieu immediately joined the Liberal frontbench, serving as Shadow Minister for Tertiary Education and Training (1999–2001), Gaming (July 2000–August 2002) and Planning (September 2001–May 2006).

Liberal Party leadership

After the resignation of Opposition Leader Robert Doyle on 4 May 2006, speculation mounted that former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett would return to politics and the position of Liberal Party Leader in order to lead the party into the 2006 state election set down for 25 November 2006. However, on the morning of 5 May 2006, Baillieu not only announced he was running for the leadership, but revealed that Kennett would not return to the leadership and was supporting Baillieu. Shadow Minister for Transport Terry Mulder had earlier announced he was running, but withdrew from the race. This left Baillieu to take the leadership unopposed at a Liberal party room vote on 8 May.

Six months after assuming leadership of the Liberals, Baillieu led the campaign in the 2006 election. The governing Labor Party, keen to exploit Baillieu's wealth, dubbed him, Ted the Toff from Toorak.

Throughout the campaign, media stories about Baillieu's extensive blue chip share portfolio, at the time estimated to be worth almost $4 million, raised questions about conflicts of interest. Baillieu's handling of the issue and his refusal to place his investments in a blind trust were both thought to have hurt the Liberal Party during the campaign. At the 25 November 2006 election, the Liberals came up well short of winning government, though they managed to take six seats off Labor's large majority.

In a speech at the State Council of the Victorian Liberal Party, Ballieu opposed the push by John Howard for nuclear reactors in Victoria.

An online campaign against Baillieu by senior Liberal Party members was uncovered and made public, with Baillieu promising to root out the disloyal elements in his party. The media suspected that forces loyal to former Federal Treasurer Peter Costello and former State Party President Michael Kroger had attempted to undermine Baillieu.

In February 2008, at a joint news conference it was announced that the Victorian Nationals and Liberals would join in a new Coalition agreement forged between Baillieu and Peter Ryan. As part of the arrangement, the parties agreed to hold joint party meetings, develop joint policies, allocate five shadow cabinet positions to the Nationals, abolish three-cornered contests (unless otherwise agreed) and run joint Legislative Council tickets in the non-metropolitan Regions.

During 2008, Baillieu voted for abortion law reform which decriminalised abortion up to twenty four weeks and the moment of birth if two doctors grant approval.[1] [2]

Premier of Victoria

Baillieu, as Leader of the Opposition, contested the 2010 Victorian state election as the alternative Premier of Victoria with the Leader of the Nationals, Peter Ryan, as the alternative Deputy Premier. Baillieu focused during the election campaign mainly on the policies of health, law and order, government expenditure and the longevity and the ability of the incumbent Labor government to deliver during a record Labor fourth term. Until election eve, polling indicated a tight Labor government re-election. The final Newspoll saw a two party preferred figure of 48.9 percent for Labor and 51.1 percent to the Liberals and Nationals.

Two days after the election, on 29 November, the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, conceded defeat after it became clear that his government had lost its majority to the opposition. The Coalition won 45 seats to Labor's 43, with a parliamentary majority of just one seat after the appointment of Ken Smith as Speaker. On 2 December, Baillieu was sworn in as the 46th Premier of Victoria, along with 22 of the Baillieu/Ryan government ministers.

After two years in office, Baillieu was criticised by business and community leaders for acting too slow and failing to present a credible policy agenda. His government was criticised for its "backward" environmental record for dismantling protection of native species, cutting support for renewable energy and introducing cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park, as well as for cutting funding for TAFE vocational education.

On 4 March 2013, the Herald Sun released secret recordings which revealed Baillieu's chief of staff, Tony Nutt, had offered to help former Ryan police adviser Tristan Weston find a new job. Weston had been fired after an OPI report found he had undermined Victoria Police chief Simon Overland. The tapes also revealed Nutt had claimed the Baillieu government had hamstrung the operations of a new anti-corruption commission. More tapes were released the next day, in which deputy police chief Sir Ken Jones expressed concerns about Overland and promised to discuss them with Ryan. On 7 March, Liberal MLA Geoff Shaw resigned from the parliamentary Liberal Party and refused to commit to supporting the Government if Baillieu remained Premier. That afternoon, Ryan insisted that Baillieu would not resign. However, after a crisis meeting of Liberal MLAs later that night, Baillieu resigned as Leader of the Liberal Party and hence as Premier of Victoria. He remained in the legislature as a backbencher until his retirement at the 2014 election.

Covert recording controversy

In 2014, Baillieu made off-the-record comments "critical of parliamentary colleagues" to Sunday Age state political editor Farrah Tomazin. Tomazin recorded the comments without Baillieu's knowledge or consent. Tomazin subsequently lost her recorder at an ALP state conference. The recorder was found by security staff and handed over to Labor Party officials. The Baillieu recording was distributed from a fake email address on June 24, 2014. Party leader Daniel Andrews initially denied any Labor involvement. However, The Age’s investigation of the incident led to ALP sources admitting senior figures in Andrews' team had listened to and made copies of the recording, before it was later emailed to hundreds of Liberal members and MPs. The matter was subject to a police investigation, but the Department of Public Prosecutions determined that no charges be laid.

Retirement from politics

On 22 August 2014, Baillieu announced that he would not re-contest his seat of Hawthorn and that he would be retiring from politics at the 2014 Victorian state election. Since April 2013, Baillieu has acted as Chair of the Victorian Government's ANZAC Centenary Committee, coordinating Victoria's commemorations, and is passionate about connecting as many Victorians as possible with Original ANZACs, whether by family, institution, geography, occupation or place of residence. Baillieu is the recipient of the 2013 Ashoka Medal from the Australia India Business Council Victoria in recognition of his contribution to Australia-India relations; and the Asian Leadership Network of Australia's 2014 Special Public Service Award. He also acted as an Honorary Ambassador for the Victorian Government's 80 Days of Melbourne initiative during which Victoria hosted an unprecedented number of internationally recognised sporting, arts, cultural and trade events between 9 January and 29 March 2015.

Personal life

Ted Baillieu is married to Robyn and has three children: Martha, Eleanor and Robert. He is a supporter of the Geelong Football Club, where he is a joint convener of We Are Geelong Supporters (WAGS). Baillieu is a regular Sunday morning swimmer with the Brighton Icebergs. He regularly enters the Pier to Pub swim organised by the Lorne Surf Life Saving Club and has swum in every one of the Portsea Surf Life Saving Club’s Pier to Perignon event over the 4.5 km course from Sorrento Pier to Portsea Pier since the inception of this event in 1989. He also plays golf and basketball.

In December 2010, Baillieu underwent surgery at the Epworth Hospital to remove a kidney stone.

He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects, the Geelong Football Club, the Melbourne Cricket Club, the Melbourne Rugby Union Football Club, the Melbourne Savage Club, the Melbourne Victory FC, the Rotary Club of Glenferrie, the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, the Sorrento Golf Club, the Hawthorn Rowing Club, and Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria (as a member of the Patrons Council).