Daley’s supporters, and even those ambivalent toward him, regard him as likeable and capable, with definite political skills. He’s invariably described as a “good retail politician". The phrase connotes a plain-speaker, adept at getting a point across. “He’s good on the grab,” a minister observes, describing Daley’s ability to find words that ring out in television and radio news clips. Nathan Rees, the former premier under whom Daley served as police and roads minister, is a big fan. “He’s an old-school politician,” says Rees. “What you see is what you get with the bloke, and I think people will respond to that. He’s exactly the sort of politician who will take it right up to Gladys Berejiklian, who is floundering.”

Daley entered parliament in a 2005 byelection, replacing Bob Carr. In his maiden address, he described values and life experiences that he still returns to as touchstones. “I come from a typical suburban middle-class Australian family,” Daley said. He nominated global warming and education as policy areas of interest. He described working as a customs officer for 13 years and studying law at night. And he credited the support of his family. “I always return to a warm and friendly family environment — a typical Aussie home with kids and dogs under your feet.” Local member Michael Daley at Maroubra Beach in 2011. Credit:Ben Rushton On Friday, making his case as to why he wanted to run for Premier, Daley described himself as “of and for the suburbs”.

“The people of NSW, the ordinary people who get up and go to work every day, who take their kids to footy and netball, what they want from their government is respect and fairness,” Daley told the Herald. The Coalition government had not delivered that respect, he said, but had instead “sold the assets” and “wasted the taxes” of the people of NSW. “They need a champion, and I want to be that person,” he said. But if Daley struggles to convince that he should be that person, it may confirm the prejudices of those who question whether he has done enough with his opportunities. After obtaining his legal practising certificate, Daley worked as a corporate lawyer for the NRMA. Entering parliament, he vaulted through the ranks.

A parliamentary secretary within months, Daley was a minister within three years, eventually taking on the roads, police and finance portfolios. As roads minister in 2008, he once memorably described his reaction to a shut-down of the M5 East tunnel. "I've been instructed not to say I'm shitty ... but I am," Daley said. And to his credit, he did not lose his reputation as did some other colleagues in the last term of the former Labor government. After Labor’s wipe-out in 2011, he did not challenge for the top job, but assumed the shadow treasurer’s position under John Robertson. If he prevails in his bid for the Labor leadership, the government is likely to make much of a 2012 incident in which apologised to the speaker about having had a "couple of drinks" prior to addressing parliament during a 2.30am debate. Daley, however, has always denied he was drunk. Robertson’s hold on the leadership looked shaky throughout 2014. At one point in August or September, Daley was taken to lunch at the Art Gallery of NSW by the then secretary and assistant secretary of the NSW Labor Party, Jamie Clements and Kaila Murnain. The then premier Morris Iemma, left, announces the securing of the Australian Open Golf at NSW Golf Course with Chris Gordon, president of NSW Golf Club and Michael Daley, right. Credit:Ben Rushton

There, on one account, he was told that if Robertson could not make it to the 2015 election, Daley should be ready with ideas and an agenda. (Daley and Murnain reject this characterisation of the lunch.) In December 2014, when it emerged that Robertson had written a letter in support of the Lindt Café murderer Man Monis, the ALP caucus and head office both determined to change the leader. But head office did not back Daley; despite Daley’s position as the senior figure in the NSW Right, Clements, who is close to Daley's current challenger for the Labor leadership Chris Minns, thought Foley better-equipped to cope in the crucible of an election campaign. The experience dovetails with the most common criticism levelled at Daley by other MPs: for all his heavy lifting in Parliament, where he has acted as the manager of opposition business, he has not done enough to stake out and argue for policy ideas. Since March, Daley has served as the shadow minister for planning and infrastructure, an area that, amid rising concerns about over-development, is now a serious vulnerability for Berejiklian.