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China's President Xi Jinping (R) shakes hands with New South Wales state Premier Mike Baird in Sydney November 19, 2014. Reuters/Daniel Munoz/Pool

After a decade and a half since the conclusion of the 2000 Olympics, Sydney has made a comeback by pulling together the Australian economy. Meanwhile, other areas struggle with the end of a China-led mining boom.

Bloomberg reports that Australia’s new government has started to formulate policies in accordance with the new economic model forged by new treasurer. New South Wales Premier Mike Baird, a former banker at HSBC and Deutsche Bank AG, has been gathering funds from public-asset sales and using them to repair roads and railways in the city.

Stephen Walters, a chief Australian economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney, has praised Baird for creating good economic conditions that restored confidence and opened up avenues for newer reforms. “He’s made his own luck through the combination of being a very good communicator with solid policies. It’s a recipe that could work well at the national level,” he added.

Under Baird, NSW accounts for the lowest record of unemployment and fastest expanding economy in the country. Baird’s efforts are reflective in Sydney and NSW’s performances, which have been getting better these days.

In contrast, the average national unemployment has been going closer to the worst. While the new government has little time to prove its worth before the next elections, they have resorted to reform programs that would prompt them to gain people’s confidence.

Baird, who has been rated the most popular politician in a Newspoll last week, managed to retain his position amid the latest coup which ousted Tony Abbott. He won the re-election in March and planned to raise AU$20 billion from sales of electricity assets to fund railways, roads, schools and hospitals. In comparison, national infrastructural development remains poor.

Andrew Hughes, a lecturer on political marketing at Australian National University, shared that “Baird’s authentic and doesn’t take himself too seriously.” In addition, Hughes held that this attitude is the reason people connect with him better.

Since Baird came into power in 2014, his main concern has been to cope with Sydney’s rising population. Some of his infrastructure investment program includes a AU$30 billion investment for new motorways and rail projects in Sydney and an AU$8 billion investment for schools and hospitals.

On Monday, he proposed plans to sell leases on a number of harborside sites and announced the concept to be used to fund the AU$200 million to upgrade the city’s central ferry terminal. Baird has also been subjected to criticism for not being able to provide solutions to the eviction of impoverished residents from state but his efforts to uplift the city’s economy have covered his setbacks.

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