Sydney No Longer Belongs To Us: Mike Baird MUST GO!

By Joseph Earp

Sydney no longer belongs to us.

There is no lighter way to put this. Unless you are a white, straight, middle class man with fundamentalist Christian values, this isn’t your city. You have no place here. Your concerns are not reflected on a governmental level. You can protest all you like, but your needs will be ignored. Your Premier will openly tell you that it will be ‘very difficult’ for him to change his mind on issues that matter to you. He will bypass the democratic system in order to get his way.

This isn’t Sydney. This is Mike Baird’s Sydney, and there is a very big difference.

Since he became Premier, Mike Baird has become fixated on implementing his moral code. That’s not me projecting, or putting words in his mouth: he’s not even interested in trying to hide this fact. In his much maligned Facebook post about the lockout laws, Baird admitted he was interested in moralising.

The facts back him up (for a change.) Baird’s controversial lockout laws – a series of restrictions rejected not only by politicians, businessmen, writers, artists, musicians, and the very family of the victims Baird claimed to be protecting – are just the tip of a very large iceberg.

Control is the name of Baird’s game. Simple, outright control.

He’s ensured that you can be locked up for 48 hours without charges even needing to be levelled against you.

He’s restricted your right to protest.

He’s amalgamated councils in an effort to protect a small minority – a cabal, even.

He has decimated Sydney’s natural wildlife, and refused to accept the assistance of organisations like WIRES while building a public transport system that has been largely rejected on every level of government.

He jumped up to decry Gayby Baby. He publically mocks women. Such demographics are not his friends: he is not interested in protecting the LGBTQI community, or female voters, or female politicians.

Mike Baird’s friends are the casinos. Mike Baird’s friends are the rich and the powerful. Mike Baird has no time for the environment – his powerful allies matter more than the state of the planet, a planet scientists nigh on uniformly agree is facing a climate change emergency due to the very industries that fund Baird and his extremism.

I have voted for Labor as long as I have been able to vote, so sure, it might seem like I am naturally biased against Baird. Hell, the fact that you’re reading this article on a website called Heaps Gay means it’s very unlikely I’m going to come out in support of the man.

But here’s the thing: I have been opposed to a lot of right wing politicians. But never have I been so scared by one.

Mike Baird is the most corrupt, controlling politician Australia has to offer. He even puts his one time surfing buddy Tony Abbott to shame.

It’s not that Mike Baird has no conscience. In a way, that would be better. He does have a conscience: one that guides him towards the subjugation of his citizens. One that he can use to justify the fascist measures he puts in place to jail any he deems a threat, any who dare opposed him.

Mike Baird does not represent us. He represents the casinos. He represents big business, and he represents polluters, and he represents a growing minority of Christians who refuse to accept the rights of the LGTBQI community at large.

Mike Baird is not my Premier. He hasn’t been for a long time.