 Baird has campaigned against dangerous drinking, voted against embryonic stem research and euthanasia, does not support same-sex marriage or same-sex adoption and has stated that his strongest preference is not to support abortion in most circumstances.He is strongly in favour of Australia becoming a republic.In 2015, Baird supported calls for increasing the GST to 15%

Following Barry O'Farrell's resignation, Baird was elected unopposed as parliamentary leader of the NSW division of the Liberal Party on 17 April 2014, and subsequently sworn in as the 44th Premier of New South Wales on 23 April by the Governor of New South Wales, Dame Marie Bashir.