REACTION
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The Illawarra has been dealt a raw deal by the state government, taking a back seat to other electorates in yesterday's budget, some of the region's leaders have claimed.
Yesterday it was revealed Newcastle would score a light rail system, with $340 million from the sale of the city's port allocated to the project.
In contrast, the Illawarra has been promised $100 million from the sale of Port Kembla would go towards projects across five local government areas, despite the ports selling for similar amounts.
Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba said the wide distribution area of money from the sale of Port Kembla meant each region would only get small slices of the pie.
"Our $100 million is being spread so far and wide, anywhere from the Shoalhaven up to the Wingecarribee," Cr Saliba said.
"What we're going to have is all these little projects getting some money and the major infrastructure that's going to be impacted on by the expansion of the port is going to have to be picked up by the local councils or not done at all.
"We're certainly being treated very unfairly here in the Illawarra region."
Cr Saliba said overall there was little in the state budget for Shellharbour.
She was particularly disappointed about a lack of action to upgrade the city's hospital to a regional base.
"I do feel that we're being left out and certainly Shellharbour City from my perspective is not being taken seriously by the state government," she said.
"I note that there is $1 million for the Albion Park bypass, that to my mind is quite poor when, according to the NRMA, it's been noted as the most hated road in Australia."
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said he wasn't surprised by the lack of commitment to the Illawarra in the budget.
"This region has been dealt a raw deal by all sorts of governments, this is just the last instalment, or the last chapter basically," he said.
"Even the infrastructure that is being built, very little of it makes its way down here."
Regardless of how much money was allocated from the Newcastle sale, Mr Rorris said he disagreed with the port's privatisation.
"In Newcastle we're talking about the biggest coal terminal in the world, why anyone in their right mind would want to privatise that is beyond me," Mr Rorris said.
"The numbers that we are looking at are still pitifully small compared to what it is that we're losing, both at Port Kembla and Newcastle."
