He was the one-time garbo who became the most powerful man in NSW.
But former Labor premier Nathan Rees on Friday called an end to his tumultuous parliamentary career, announcing he was stepping down at next year's election.
"The time is right now to seek new challenges and to learn new things," he said.
After 17 years in politics, he said retiring had been a "live issue" for him since the last election at which he narrowly won his seat.
Since the 2011 election, his western Sydney seat of Toongabbie has been renamed Seven Hills in a redistribution, making it into a relatively safe Liberal seat.
In a turbulent period for the Labor Party, Mr Rees took over from Morris Iemma as premier in September 2008 but was deposed 15 months later when he was rolled by Kristina Keneally after losing the support of the party's dominant right faction.
Hours before the vote, he said "I will not hand over New South Wales to Eddie Obeid or Joe Tripodi" and declared any challenger would be a "puppet" of Mr Obeid and Mr Tripodi.
Mr Obeid has since been found to have acted corruptly by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Mr Rees said he was proud of his "strong stance" against corruption.
"Four years down the track, I know I did the right thing," he said.
But he warned his state Labor colleagues to never again hand control of the party to "a small cabal of self-interested individuals".
Mr Rees was a greenkeeper and then worked as a garbage collector at Parramatta Council to support his university studies.
He stepped down from his role as opposition police spokesman in 2013 following revelations he had an affair with a constituent.
Opposition Leader John Robertson thanked Mr Rees for his contribution to NSW.
"I wish Nathan all the best for the future," he said.
