Mr Daley stopped in the Highlands on Tuesday, along with NSW Labor Candidate for Wollondilly Jo-Ann Davidson, as part of his regional tour.

Over the next couple of weeks, he will travel across regional NSW and speak to people about their concerns.

Mr Daley said he wanted to go back to the “McKell model” of the Labor party and improve the partnership between the “city and the bush”.

“I want to refocus government on average citizens- the ones who get up every day and take their kids to school and work and battle through traffic and go to sport on the weekend because I think they’ve been forgotten about by this current government,” he said.

“The thing I hear very strongly is that people are cranky. That’s why I have our MPs and our candidates show me around their towns and regions, tell me what the concerns are. It certainly won’t be the last time I’m here. I’ll be back many times before the election in March.”

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One of the key concerns raised in the first few days of the tour was the plans to knock down and rebuild Sydney stadiums.

With a state election planned next year, he said if Labor was to win, it would not fund the stadium rebuilds.

Instead it would focus funding on schools, hospitals and regional infrastructure.

Mr Daley said if Labor was to win the election, it would also look at the schools maintenance backlog, which he estimated to be about $4 million.

Things on this list include toilets, paint, carpet and air conditioning.

“We’ll be able to fix that backlog because we’re not spending money on stadiums.

“These things...they’re not too much to ask. They should be fundamentals of a good education system.”

Ms Davidson said she too believed more funding for schools and Bowral Hospital were key concerns in the Wollondilly electorate.

“We want to see more investment in the hospital here and more investment in schooling,” she said.

“It’s about the cost of living and energy power bills. It’s all of those things that are important to this community rather than pulling down stadiums in Sydney.”

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