Roads and Ports Minister Duncan Gay has again been accused of claiming an Illawarra elected representative was whinging - but this time he said they deserved worse.
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Yesterday, the Illawarra Mercury reported on Mr Gay's comment in parliament, when he said "what a mob of whingers" during a question about Wollongong City Council's disappointment over the Illawarra's relative lack of port proceeds compared to Newcastle.
The Labor opposition claimed he was referring to Illawarra citizens. Mr Gay, however denied this both in and outside parliament.
In parliament he said that he "suggested the council and the Labor Party were whingers".
In the wake of this controversy, Shellharbour MP Anna Watson claimed Mr Gay referred to her as "whinging" in an ABC Illawarra interview last December.
"He called me a 'whinger' publicly over my lobbying to get the Albion Park Rail bypass moving," Ms Watson said.
"My 'whinging' got $1 million in funding allocated to the planning stage of the bypass. And I'll keep 'whinging' on behalf of my community if that's what it takes to get action from the minister."
When asked of his comment about Ms Watson, Mr Gay said he could have used worse language.
"Labor are disappointing the community and disappointing me by misleading the people of the Illawarra," he said.
"Calling them whingers when they are being deceitful is the nice way of responding when they deserve much worse.
"Labor are a bunch of hypocrites - opposing every major measure this government has taken to provide the funds to build infrastructure - yet complaining not enough is being done."
