It may take some time for the electoral impact of Michael Daley's comments about "young people from typically Asia" replacing "our young children" in Sydney to be properly analysed and quantified.
But on the face of it, those comments may have had a significant effect.
This is most striking in the electorate of Kogarah, where 20 per cent of the population was born in China, compared to 3 per cent across the state as a whole.
Labor's Chris Minns suffered a swing against him of almost 4 per cent on Saturday.
In July 2016 Mr Minns wrote an Opinion piece for Fairfax Media where he defended the Chinese community against attacks from Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.
"Multiculturalism works," Mr Minns wrote.
"Our country, with its scores of races and religions, is prosperous and peaceful. Our brand of racial cohesion is the envy of the world and welcoming Asian migrants has brought untold wealth and opportunity to Australia.
"Australians of Asian heritage shouldn't have to apologise to anyone for living in Hurstville.
"They have built a community that has achieved the best educational results in the country, crime is at its lowest level in decades and they work tirelessly contributing to Australia's economy.
"They should be as proud of their community as I am."
Mr Minns, who challenged Mr Daley for the Labor leadership in September, has long been ear-marked as leadership potential.
Daley defeated Mr Minns by 33 votes to 12 in a caucus ballot to replace Luke Foley, who resigned following sexual harassment allegations, which he denied.
Had Mr Minns, 39, won and gone on to lead Labor to success in the March, 2019, election, he would have become the youngest premier in the state's history.
Mr Minns said it had been "a good process" and, on a personal level, enjoyable.
"The caucus ballot was decisive and I am convinced Michael will be the next premier," he said at the time.
"I have known him for a number of years and I think he is a genuinely good person. It is hard to be disappointed when someone like Michael beats you to the post."
Mr Minns could now challenge Mr Daley again on the back of Saturday's poor result for Labor.
Related: Minns fails in Labor leadership bid
"One of the things that was really hard was to see hundreds of Chinese Australians handing out how to vote cards for Labor and, at the same time, they were on the front page of newspapers being talked about," Minns told the Daily Telegraph.
"We lost faith with that community and we've got a huge job ahead of us to breach that void."
