Tony Story, who owns the Optus store at North Wollongong and lives in the suburb, is the man behind Mr Baird’s presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Mr Story, 36, has been the Premier’s “head of digital media” for about 18 months. 

He was reportedly paid $30,000 prior to last year’s state election to help with Mr Baird’s digital image, before gaining a full-time position.  

Now, Mr Story’s role has been thrust into the spotlight after it was revealed the Liberal Party paid for him to join Mr Baird on a week-long trip to Israel. 

Mr Baird is overseas discussing innovation, cyber-security and medicinal cannabis. 

Keira MP, and Labor’s spokesman for Treasury, Ryan Park criticised Mr Story’s involvement in the trip.

“This is just another example of how Mike Baird puts his image before everything else and then hands the taxpayer the bill,” Mr Park said.

“Voters would rightly ask the question if their money could be better spent on other things than taking a jolly with his social media adviser and using it to burnish his image.” 

A spokesman for the Premier said: “This is the digital age and we’re using all channels to keep people of NSW informed of things that are important to them.”

“As two media advisers are accompanying the Premier to Israel, the Liberal Party will pay costs for one media adviser,” the spokesman said.

“This means the staffing arrangements for Israel are consistent with the Premier’s previous trade missions to India, China, Japan and South Korea.” 

Mr Baird has been known to bypass traditional channels and make policy announcements via social media, with Mr Story playing a key role in the online-first  approach. 

However, the Premier’s use of social media hasn’t all been smooth-sailing.

Recent media monitoring for Fairfax Media showed a drop in support for Mr Baird on the back of issues such as the controversial “lockout” laws.

On March 22, a draft version of a post that included “Tweet/FB option” was accidentally posted to Twitter.

The Mercury contacted Mr Story, who preferred not to comment.