Robertson won the seat of Blacktown in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly at the March 2011 election , despite the Labor government suffering the worst defeat of a sitting government in New South Wales since Federation . Robertson himself barely squeaked into office in what has historically been a comfortably safe Labor seat ; he suffered a swing of 18.7 percent , cutting the Labor majority down to a very marginal three percent . After Kristina Keneally announced she was standing down as state Labor leader and returning to the backbench , Robertson was heavily tipped to succeed her . On 31 March , Robertson was elected unopposed as leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition . His immediate task was rebuilding a party that had seen its caucus more than halved in the election held a week earlier — a result that Robertson said the party deserved , calling it " a devastating result , a message that was sent to us . " In the aftermath of the 2014 Sydney hostage crisis , it was revealed that Robertson had previously sent a letter on behalf of the gunman , Man Haron Monis , a constituent in his Blacktown electorate , to the Department of Family and Community Services . The letter was , according to Robertson , routine procedure on behalf of a constituent and written in support of Monis ' request for a supervised visit with his children on Father 's Day in 2011 despite an apprehended violence order against him . The Department declined Monis ' request . Pressure mounted on Robertson to resign as Leader of the Labor Party , with the 2015 state election three months away . ABC News reported that several members of the Labor caucus were gathering support to have Robertson voted out if he did n't resign . Robertson stood aside on 23 December 2014 , saying that " the next election is so important that Labor must be united behind the leader . Robertson was initially replaced by Linda Burney on an interim basis , and then by Luke Foley . He was the first NSW Labor leader since Pat Hills not to go on to become premier , and only the third in almost a century not to take the party into an election
2014 Sydney hostage crisis
2014 Sydney hostage crisis
John Robertson (politician, born 1962)