The NSW Liberals will deploy the same tactics used against them in Opposition to target Labor leader Michael Daley's business credentials in a new advertising campaign.
Advertisements will start running this week questioning Mr Daley's ability to manage the state's finances, pointing to his time as a director of the Randwick Rugby Club.
NSW Liberals will start running advertisements targeting Labor leader Michael Daley.Credit: AAP
Mr Daley was director of the licensed club in Coogee between 2003 and 2008 but the home of the famous Galloping Greens eventually closed in 2012 after years of struggling to stay afloat.
Mr Daley said the club did not face financial problems until after he resigned when he became a minister.
"When I was a director of the club it was profitable but like many clubs in the eastern suburbs, the club experienced financial difficulties as a result of the smoking ban and it closed its door five or six years after I left the board," Mr Daley said.
Former NSW Liberal leader Peter Debnam.Credit: Edwina Pickles
Labor used a similar tactic against the former Liberal opposition leader Peter Debnam in the 2007 election campaign, highlighting Mr Debnam's failed gym business.
"They said Debnam couldn't even run a gym and this was very effective against him," a senior Liberal source said.
The advertisements come as Mr Daley was forced to defend his record as a councillor on Randwick City Council, after it emerged donations from developers were not declared when Mr Daley was assessing development applications.
Mr Daley did not declare an interest in at least three cases during his time on the council between 1995 and 2008, including applications by disgraced former Labor president Michael Williamson and the Randwick Labor Club.
Argos Investments, which lodged a development application for a redevelopment of its Coach and Horses Hotel, was also a donor to NSW Labor at the time its application was before the council's planning committee.
Mr Daley said he did not recall the development application for Williamson's house because he was on council for 13 years and sat through hundreds of planning meetings for more than a decade.
"I do not recall the DA ... there were hundreds, thousands of development applications," Mr Daley said.
Mr Daley said he was not a friend of Williamson's, had not socialised with him and had not been to his house.
The Opposition Leader said he had never been contacted by NSW Labor officials urging him to support a development application from a donor.
"All donations were not handled by councillors, they were handled at arms' length by Labor head office or a campaign director," Mr Daley said.
"In my 23 years in public life, I have always acted with integrity and propriety."
Mr Daley accused the Liberals of using a "dirt unit" to target him ahead of the election.
"The government is scared of me, they are scared of the Labor Party ... their strengths have become their weaknesses," Mr Daley said.
But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Mr Daley had “serious questions” to answer, saying those who aspire to "hold high office" needed to be transparent.
“These are serious questions for him to answer, only he can answer them, and it’s a matter for him,” Ms Berejiklian said.
She did not directly answer whether the matter was serious enough for Mr Daley to step down or for it to be referred to the NSW Electoral Commission.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said if Mr Daley could not run Randwick council, he could not run the rest of the state. He dismissed Mr Daley’s accusation that the story originated from the Liberals' dirt unit.