New Minister for the Illawarra John Ajaka wished he was appointed to the post under better circumstances.
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Mr Ajaka was made Minister for the Illawarra last Thursday after Premier Barry O'Farrell sacked Greg Pearce over a conflict of interest in appointing his wife's boss to a board position with Sydney Water.
Mr Ajaka, who was born in Bulli Hospital and spent the first seven years of his life at Corrimal, would have preferred to get his first ministerial post some other way.
"It's definitely not the way I wanted to get it," he admitted.
"Greg Pearce and I are very good friends. I've known Greg for a very long time.
"It's always a sad way to be appointed in those circumstances. Greg's done some great work, I believe that he was an excellent minister. I guess now I've just got to move on and ensure that good work is continued."
Mr Ajaka has taken up a position with a chequered past - four of the five previous Ministers for the Illawarra have either been forced to resign or been sacked.
But Mr Ajaka claimed not to have thought about the idea he'd been handed a poison chalice.
"I hadn't even thought about that for one minute until you actually raised it," he said.
One thing he had thought of was the number of times he visited the region - an issue that had vexed Mr Pearce.
Mr Ajaka said the Liberals in the upper house were granted "provinces" to oversee and his had been the area of St George Illawarra for the last six years.
So his visits to the Illawarra were already regular and he didn't see that changing in the future.
"I'd like to think I'll be down there as much as possible," he said.
"Especially in the last two years, I don't think there's been a week where I haven't been down to the Illawarra at least once or twice for various reasons."
He will be in town this morning for his first official visit as Minister for the Illawarra to announce funding subsidies that will allow Wollongong City Council to borrow money to repair Berkeley and Corrimal community centres and Thirroul beach pavilion and kiosk.
Despite the planned continuation of these regular visits, Mr Ajaka didn't think he would be reversing Mr Pearce's decision to close his Wollongong office.
"I don't feel there's a need for me to have an office in Wollongong," he said.
"With technology today - mobile phones, iPads and the internet, I can sit in a car and do just about anything I need to do.
"I'm more interested in face-to-face meetings. I'm more interested in attending sites when issues arise and meeting groups where they're based.
"I don't believe I need to be sitting in an office so they can come to me. I think I can achieve far more if I'm out on the road."