Obeid and Tripodi's control of the dominant"Terrigals"sub-faction – named after the location of Obeid's beach house – delivered Keneally the numbers in the caucus ballot that saw her elected party leader and premier,toppling Nathan Rees in December 2009.
So obvious was the method of her elevation,it elicited the famous Rees line before the ballot that whoever succeeded him would be a"puppet"of the pair.
Once premier,she reinstated to cabinet Ian Macdonald,another ministerwho would,after leaving office,be jailed,having been found to have acted corruptly in office.
Keneally led Labor into battle at the March 2011 state election,losing spectacularly to Barry O'Farrell in a historic defeat.