Independent Wollongong candidate Arthur Rorris says one of the city's greatest drawcards has been neglected for too long.
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The state election hopeful met about 20 people at Wollongong Harbour on Thursday, hearing their concerns about a lack of investment in the area.
Mr Rorris said the run-down "jewel of Wollongong" had been ignored by both sides of politics, including a revitalisation plan by the previous Labor government that dropped off the radar in 2012.
"We remember the bad old days when Tony Kelly and [Wollongong MP] Noreen Hay, when Labor was in government last time, and what they tried to do to our harbour with their secretive approaches," Mr Rorris said.
"The people of Wollongong said very clearly we want to keep a working harbour, we want to invest in our working harbour; it's historic, it's beautiful and it brings in tourists. It also employs people," he said.
Vice-commodore of Wollongong Yacht Club Ken Stuckey said every aspect of Wollongong's promotion centred on the harbour and nothing was being done to support it.
"It just appears to be an awful waste of a resource," he said.
Commercial fisherman and owner of Harbourside Fish Market Tony Virtu said the closure of the slipway hadn't helped.
"It makes it hard for all the boats; the big trawlers have to go all the way to Ulladulla and the small boats have to venture down to Kiama," Mr Virtu said.
A NSW Department of Primary Industries spokesman said a decision on the future of the slipway was yet to be made.
Restoration work on the heritage-listed stone sea wall is expected to start next month.
Ms Hay said Mr Rorris's comments were "a distraction from the real issue, which is how the region has been treated appallingly by the Liberals over the past four years".
She said she had been "campaigning relentlessly" to get a fairer deal for the Illawarra.
"Anyone who claims to have the best interests of the labour movement at heart would be working side by side with me to stop the Liberals' risky plan," Ms Hay said.
"Not once since I have been an MP, and while Labor was in government, did Arthur Rorris write to me about any issue on the Illawarra," Ms Hay said.
andrew.pearson@fairfaxmedia.com.au
