The Labor heavyweight yesterday joined the frenzied reaction to news the former general manager is planning a Wollongong lord mayoral tilt in the promised September election, despite a 2008 Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) ruling that he created an environment at the council where corruption flourished.

"There were certain comments made in the ICAC report about [Mr Oxley] allowing a culture of corruption to occur within Wollongong council," Mr Robertson said in Wollongong yesterday.

"The only thing I would say is I think people need to take that into account when they are making decisions about who they may or may not support for mayor."

But Mr Oxley rejected the comments as politically motivated, saying Mr Robertson was attempting to pave the way for a Labor lord mayor.

"That's the nature of politics, isn't it? [John Robertson] will try and portray others in such a way that he will then come out and support anyone who is the Labor candidate," he said.

Mr Oxley, whose decision to run for lord mayor has largely been greeted with disdain by Mercury readers, has vowed to rid council of "party politics" should he be elected.

"There were occasions in my career where I saw three or four people who could control the council because of the way the caucusing and factions worked," he said. "I don't think that should happen."

Mr Oxley said his criticism extended to all sides of politics, not just Labor.

ICAC delivered findings of corrupt conduct against four Labor councillors - Kiril Jonovski, Frank Gigliotti, Val Zanotto and Zeki Esen, as well as council official and then-ALP member Joe Scimone. NSW Labor officially expelled the group in the wake of the scandal.

Mr Jonovski has previously signalled he would consider a comeback as an independent, telling the Mercury last July: "I'll leave the door open for anything."

Wollongong MP Noreen Hay would not comment on whether Mr Oxley would be an asset or liability as lord mayor, saying: "there will be a whole host of candidates to put their hands up yet, and I may at some later date have something to say."