Audrey Johns, three months, wasn’t at all interested in the commotion surrounding Gladys Berejiklian becoming the new Premier of NSW.
She was pictured in the background, asleep in the arms of her father, as Ms Berejiklian and Mike Baird arrived together for the Liberal Party meeting, where she was elected the new leader.
Audrey’s father is Kent Johns, the Sutherland Shire councillor and acting state president of the Liberal Party, who is the partner of Liberal MP for Holsworthy, Melanie Gibbons.
Ms Gibbons’ office in Parliament House is opposite the room where the meeting took place.
Cr Johns said he was baby sitting while Ms Gibbons attended the meeting, and their daughter had slept through the excitement.
“I think Gladys will make a fantastic Premier,” he said.
“Her life story shows she will have the common touch with everyone in NSW.
“She is the quintessential Australian success story.”
After her election as Liberal leader, Ms Berejiklian told how her father was a boilermaker, a welder, and one of his first jobs in Sydney was working on the Opera House.
Her mother had left school at 15 to help support her family as a nurse. Both had been shift workers.
”But, there wasn’t a week that went by when my parents didn’t remind us of how lucky we were to have the opportunities we have here in NSW,” she said.
“In our household, there was no room for complaining or making excuses – we just got on with the job.”
Cr Johns, a leader of the party’s left-wing faction to which Ms Berejiklian also belongs, said it would make no difference to her decisions.
“When you become premier, factions don’t enter into it,” he said.
