Politics had driven the decision to give Newcastle three times the money from the leasing of its port than the Illawarra received, Save Our Ports spokesman Walter Pritchard said yesterday.
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Earlier this week in the state budget, Treasurer Mike Baird announced the government would put the Newcastle port up for a long-term lease and expected it to bring in $700 million.
Of that, he said the city would receive $340 million.
By comparison, the Illawarra was promised just $100 million from the leasing of Port Kembla, even though the lease went for $760 million - $60 million more than the estimate for Newcastle's port.
"I'm sure it's got something to do with the political make-up of the seats in the Illawarra," Mr Pritchard said of the disparity.
"Newcastle has some Labor seats but it also has some swinging seats and I'd hate to think this money is politically driven.
"You only have to look down the coast to where Gareth Ward's seat has received about four times the amount that the whole of the Illawarra got with its Labor seats.
"That definitely has to be taken into consideration."
He said the government's decision to lease the Newcastle port didn't come as a surprise and the Save Our Ports stance was unchanged.
"We're opposed to that [in Newcastle] as we were down here," he said.
"Also we can understand the people of the Illawarra being very disappointed that the Hunter district is going to get a larger share for their port than we are down here.
"I can understand a lot of people who wanted to see the continual money coming in for this port now finding that they'll have this limited amount, $100 million, and that's it for all time," he said.
Mr Pritchard said it wasn't just the Illawarra or Newcastle that needed to fight what he classed as privatisation, but the entire country.
"It's the wealth of future generations that is going to be sold," he said.
"If they want to leave the prospects of a better society in the future all over Australia, the whole issue of public assets has to be looked at very closely."
While not aware of any planned opposition to the Newcastle leasing, Mr Pritchard said the Save Our Ports committee would be willing to lend a hand if asked.
"We're continuing our struggle down here," he said.
"I'm not going to offer advice to the people of Newcastle, they'll decide their own reaction to it. If they do decide to take up a struggle we'll certainly be supportive in whatever we can do."
