Michael John Daley (born 1 November 1965) is an Australian politician who was the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

Parliament of New South Wales The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

from November 2018 to March 2019. He is currently a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

representing Maroubra for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

since 2005. Daley is aligned with the

Labor Right The Labor Right, also known as Modern Labor, is a political faction of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the national level that is characterised by being more economically conservative and, in some cases, more socially conservative. The Labor ...

faction.

Biography

Daley is of Irish Catholic background. He was educated at Marcellin College, Randwick, finishing in 1983. He spent 13 years as a Customs officer with the

Australian Customs Service The Australian Customs Service was an Australian Government agency responsible for Australian border protection, duties and taxes between 1985 and 2009. The Service was first under the portfolio of the Department of Industry, Technology and Comme ...

during which time he studied law at night. In 1998 having completed his legal studies he was admitted to the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...

as a legal practitioner and began to pursue a career as a lawyer, and worked for a year in a law firm in central Sydney before spending five years as a senior in-house lawyer with NRMA Motoring and Services. Daley was elected as a

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Randwick City Council Randwick may refer to: Australia *Randwick, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney *City of Randwick, a local-government area in Sydney *Randwick Racecourse * Randwick DRUFC, a rugby-union club in Randwick, New South Wales New Zealand * Randwick Ki ...

in 1995 and served as deputy mayor from 2000 to 2004.

Personal life

Daley married Christina Ithier in 2005 whom he met "at a photocopier" at his legal firm in 1997. She had two children from a previous marriage that Daley counts as his own. He and Christina have since had two other children, Olivia (12 in January 2019), and Austin (age 8 in January 2019).

Political career

Daley was elected to represent Maroubra for the Australian Labor Party in 17 Sep 2005, replacing previous Labor member

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later e ...

who announced his retirement from politics. Daley served on the backbench until the elevation of

Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees w ...

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_ ...

in September 2008 when Daley became the Minister for Roads on 8 September 2008. Daley held this portfolio until a cabinet reshuffle on 14 September 2009 where he was subsequently appointed Minister for Police and Minister for Finance, the portfolios he held until 4 December 2009. When

Kristina Keneally Kristina Marie Kerscher Keneally (born 19 December 1968) is an American-born Australian politician who was a Labor Senator for New South Wales from February 2018 until April 2022, when she resigned to unsuccessfully contest the House of Repres ...

became Premier in December 2009 he remained as Minister for Police and Minister for Finance until the 2011 state election, where he was one of just 20 Labor MPs elected. Daley was believed to be a potential candidate for the Labor leadership, however, he did not contest it. As a result,

John Robertson John, Jon, or Jonathan Robertson may refer to: Politicians United Kingdom politicians *J. M. Robertson (John Mackinnon Robertson, 1856–1933), British journalist and Liberal MP for Tyneside 1906–1918 *John Robertson (Bothwell MP) (1867–1926), ...

was elected unopposed as Keneally's replacement, and Daley was appointed as Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Finance and Services in the Robertson shadow ministry and the subsequent Foley shadow ministry from 11 April 2011 to 10 March 2016 and 28 March 2014, respectively. In March 2016, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Gaming and Racing, Shadow Minister for Planning and Infrastructure which he held on to until 27 November 2018. He also served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 7 March 2016 before being elected as the Leader of the Opposition on 10 November 2018.

Leader of the Opposition

Following

Luke Foley Luke Aquinas Foley (born 27 July 1970) is a former Australian Labor Party politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from 2015 to 2018. Foley was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Counci ...

's resignation of the role, Daley nominated for the role of New South Wales Labor leader and Leader of the New South Wales Opposition. On 10 November 2018, Daley won the leadership election against

Chris Minns Christopher John Minns (born 17 September 1979) is an Australian politician who is the leader of the NSW Labor Party. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Kogarah for the Labor Party at the 2015 New South ...

33 votes to 12, and was elected as the Leader of the Labor Party in New South Wales and became the 38th NSW Leader of the Opposition. On 19 March 2019, a few days prior to the state election, a video from September 2018 surfaced in which Daley made comments about Asian immigration in Sydney. Daley said "Our young children will flee and who are they being replaced with? They are being replaced by young people from typically Asia with PhDs," and "So there's a transformation happening in Sydney now where our kids are moving out and foreigners are moving in and taking their jobs". Daley apologised from his comments, stating "What I was referring to was housing affordability in Sydney ... I could've expressed myself better, no offence was meant." The party was unsuccessful in the election a few days later, and Daley subsequently stood aside as leader and withdrew his candidacy for the subsequent leadership ballot after initially stating that he would contest it.

Jodi McKay Jodi Leyanne McKay (born 16 August 1969) is a former Australian politician who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales from June 2019 until May 2021. She previously served as a member of the New South Wales Legislat ...

became the new permanent as party leader and opposition leader in June 2019 after Daley's resignation. On 30 May 2021, following the resignation of McKay as party leader, Daley announced he would run again for party leadership. On 4 June 2021, he pulled out of the leadership contest, allowing

to be elected leader unopposed.

References

External links