However Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba said Mr Ward’s continued attempts to link the project with state politics was ‘‘a joke and Gareth knows it’’.

On Thursday evening a debate over the $57 million project took place on the floor of NSW parliament, triggered by the presentation of an 11,500-signature petition collected by the Stop The Hub Community Group.

During the debate Mr Ward declared his support for hub critic Mark Jones to be the Liberal candidate for Shellharbour, indicating an official announcement was imminent.

Mr Ward slammed Shellharbour Council’s decisions on Tuesday night to investigate costs for referendums on having a popularly elected mayor and increasing the number of councillors, yet at the same time reject a call for a referendum on the City Hub.

‘‘It is okay to have a referendum when it suits Labor’s political purposes, but it is not okay to have a referendum on a project that will burden ratepayers for years to come in the face of overwhelming public opposition,’’ he said.

‘‘It is an appalling case of self-interest and double standards.’’

Mr Ward said councils could rescind their position at any stage.

‘‘The hub will be an election issue at a state and local government level – I will make sure that it is.

‘‘This is about the faith the community can have in their political leaders.

‘‘I want to make the next election the referendum on the hub that the Labor councillors failed to let the community have.’’

Shellharbour MP Anna Watson has consistently said the project was a matter for the seven Shellharbour councillors to resolve.

It was not a project that she or Gareth Ward or his government could stop, Ms Watson said.

Ms Watson said she had happily made direct representations to the Mayor and Shellharbour Council on behalf of all constituents who had approached her on this issue.

‘‘Despite his empty words, the council has advised me that [Gareth Ward] has not once – I repeat, not once – made a representation on behalf of a constituent to council on the hub issue,’’ she said.

Cr Saliba said Mr Ward had misled people that presenting a petition to Parliament would have some effect.

‘‘He knows, I know, and his minister knows that it doesn’t,’’ Cr Saliba said.

‘‘Gareth Ward is a former Shoalhaven councillor and he was the first to jump and up and down if the state government tried to influence any decision of his council and he has a bloody cheek to be doing that in relation to the hub.’’

Last month the Joint Regional Planning Panel granted conditional approval to the project subject to strict conditions.

Cr Saliba said the project’s designers and planners were looking at how to incorporate the conditions into the development application, while at the same time other early contractor works continue.

‘‘On the other side CBRE and the council are working on the sale of the remaining assets and very soon all three issues will converge and that will be the time for the council to make a decision,’’ Cr Saliba said.

‘‘I’m not nor are any of my colleagues prepared to go beyond what the council can afford.

‘‘If it is more than what has been anticipated, common sense will prevail and the council will say no; if it comes in on target or under we will continue.’’

Stop the Hub convener Diane Quinlin said the petition reflected the views of the Shellharbour community.

‘‘The council has no business case for alternative options and already the project has led to the debacle surrounding the Warilla Library, which has been sold with no idea of where a new one will go.

‘‘In the meantime the council is now paying $147,000 a year in rent for the library.

‘‘All these issues show the council is not competent and the community strategic plan is a farce,’’ Ms Quinlin said.