It's Sunday morning on a quiet, curling cul-de-sac in the heart of the region's densely populated southern suburbs, and the most striking aspect of the election talk doing the rounds may be the lack of election talk doing the rounds.
Factors that drove this to be dubbed the "Seinfeld election" - a show about nothing - are not lost in Termeil Place, Flinders, where many residents report they are yet to decide their vote, or even care about its impact.
This is the first federal election Matthew Douet, 20, has been old enough to vote in, but the metal roofer confesses he "hasn't got a clue" about the issues that should underpin his maiden ballot.
"I haven't got an interest and I've just really got no time," he said, adding that he would vote in line with "whoever my Nan votes for".
Termeil Place is named after one of the Liberal-led suburbs now bundled together with Flinders under a boundary change to the seat of Gilmore, and lies in a region of 8.1 per cent unemployment.
Resident Robert Hobden, 28, said he had yet to decide his vote but would probably give it to the party with the best ideas for boosting Illawarra jobs.
Mr Hobden has spent the past six months travelling to Sydney to work as an industrial cleaner.
"I'd love to get a job closer to home, but there are no full-time jobs," he said.
"They can't really build up the industrial area any more. They've put in more houses than there are jobs."
Neighbour Harley Copeland, 73, believes unemployment to be the most important election issue in Flinders, where people "just want an honest day's wage for an honest day's work".
He also points to future water supply and availability, solar power and protection of workplace rights as issues that will sway his decision.
"Everybody says we've got to have a population of 40 million; what river are we going to import so people can drink?" he said.
"They're issues (that align) most closely with the Greens, but sometimes they're right and sometimes they haven't got a clue."
A retired school teacher, Mr Copeland believes many have switched off in response to politicians who "are concerned about one thing: their career".
"They're not concerned about issues," he said.
David Traversari, 35, works for a company that supplies pumps to the mining industry.
He says he will vote for the Liberal Party in objection to the Government's mining tax, which he said was unacceptable even in its watered-down form.
"I don't want the tax to go ahead, full stop," he said.
"Tahmoor (Colliery) spend about $3 million a year in our company."
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