Michael Daley has been elected NSW Labor leader, to replace Luke Foley who, following his resignation Thursday, said he won’t contest the next election.

It comes after explosive allegations of sexual harassment from ABC journalist Ashleigh Raper accuse Mr Foley of groping her at a 2016 Christmas function.

At a press conference, Mr Foley said the allegations against him were false and he’d retained solicitors with a view of taking legal action for defamation.

But new state Labor leader Michael Daley doesn’t believe the scandal that forced the resignation of Luke Foley will damage Labor’s chances of an election win.

He’s preparing for his first parliamentary sitting week as leader of the Opposition and tells Chris Smith it’s been a “seamless takeover”.

“We had good pace, we had good momentum. Luke Foley was prefered premier, we were 50/50 in the polls.

“A leadership change such as the one we saw with the Turnbull government would’ve really hurt us.

“But what happened; Luke stumbled, I picked up the baton, and I’ve kept running at the same pace.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview 

As for the allegations, Mr Daley tells Chris “there’s only one version of the truth”.

“I said quite clearly, I believe Ashleigh.

And then when I saw Luke’s press conference… I wasn’t happy.”