Julie Bishop made an appearance at the NSW Liberal campaign headquarters at the Sofitel Hotel in Sydney proudly supporting Baird for his achievement.

“It’s been an outstanding result for Mike Baird and his team,” she told Sky News. “Mike is quite the leader. He has had a very strong narrative about what he wants to achieve for NSW.”

“People trust him and like him and I think he’s had a result any leader would be proud of given the circumstances.  He’s authentic, he’s real. People like him and trust him and they feel that they know him”.

Mike Baird’s speech is being hailed for its authenticity this morning.

“‘Friends’ begins Premier Baird, ‘I love this State. The reason I love this State is because of its people. And tonight they have chosen hope over fear.

We sought a mandate to make NSW great, and tonight the people of NSW have given us that mandate.

I want to thank Luke Foley… he has been a tough opponent and I appreciate his gracious words tonight.

Over the past four years we have focused on delivering for this community built on trust, doing what we said we would do.

I want to pay tribute to Barry O’Farrell and Andrew Stoner, who took us from opposition, took us into government and got NSW working again.

And that’s exactly what Troy Grant and I will do with our team over the next four years. Work with the people of NSW”.

Are you pleased to see political stability in New South Wales and Baird returned to power today?