By Emily Dunn
When Parliament resumes next week, the NSW Treasurer, and beer-lover, Mike Baird, will be more likely to be found balancing budgets than schooners.
Last year, however, it was a different story.
Money man ... NSW Treasurer Mike Baird likes to have a beer close to home.Credit: Domino Postiglione
Still in opposition and with an election looming, Baird spent much of February and March last year bunkered down in pubs as part of his ''have a beer with Mike'' campaign.
The campaign, in which he shouted drinks for supporters in pubs from Wollongong to Dubbo and Port Macquarie, received the most responses in his home electorate of Manly, held at his favourite watering hole, 4 Pines Brewing Company.
''We had a big one in the Illawarra; it ran for about four months and was anywhere from me and four or five people to me and 50 people,'' says Baird, who has held the northern beaches seat since 2007, following an 18-year career in banking.
''We had the biggest response at home.''
Unfortunately for local beer-lovers, the campaign ended with the election but Baird says it is the kind of event he is keen to organise again.
As Treasurer, Baird admits he now spends much less time than he would like at favourite local establishments such as 4 Pines, which is around the corner from his electorate office.
''It is a great local story and the kind of place that is popular with locals rather than a tourist spot,'' he says of the pub, which opened in 2008 and draws its name from the four pines that were removed from the Manly foreshore during World War II to make room for machine guns.
''These days I might make it there three or four times a year,'' he says. ''If it is the right time and I haven't got a function on after work, being in Manly it feels like home.
''I have always enjoyed a beer, although I wouldn't call myself a heavy beer drinker. I used to play a lot of cricket when I was younger and a beer afterwards was the best drink I could imagine.''
Like many of his northern beaches constituents, Baird prefers drinking and dining close to home.
''[As Treasurer] there would be very few weeks where you are out less than four or five nights a week for a function,'' he says.
''My wife and I try to get in a date night once a week and often our choice will be a nice restaurant and usually somewhere in Manly.''