Kiama’s Gareth Ward and South Coast’s Shelley Hancock joined forces with five southern Sydney MPs on Thursday to petition the government to get to work on the F6 extension.

‘‘We have been bashing our heads against the wall on the issue of the F6 and today we’re indicating that we’ve had enough,’’ Mr Ward said.

‘‘We are launching a petition against the government to fund the F6 extension to shovel ready stage.

‘‘This project is going to take a long time but it’s going to take even longer if people are silent or if we don’t get the funds we need for the planning work.’’

Heathcote’s Lee Evans, Cronulla’s Mark Speakman, Melanie Gibbons from Menai, Mark Coure from Oatley and Rockdale’s John Flowers. joined the Illawarra MPs.

The extension would go all the way to St Peters and Mr Ward said the group estimated the cost of getting that length of road ready to lay the tar would be around $20 million.

Mr Ward encouraged people who wanted the extension built to go to their local member’s office to sign the petition, or even take copies away to collect more signatures.

‘‘The government is putting the budget together at the moment,’’ Mr Ward said.

‘‘I believe the faster we can get these in the quicker we can put pressure on the government and Treasury to get the money that we need.’’

After works like the Princes Highway upgrades and the announcement of WestConnex, Mr Ward said the F6 extension should come next.

‘‘I think that this is the next logical stage to get this road in a position that nothing else jumps in front of it,’’ he said.