Independent Wollongong state election candidate Arthur Rorris has denied doing a preference deal with the Liberals to oust Labor's Noreen Hay from the seat.
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The Wollongong MP said on Monday she was mounting a fight against two Liberal candidates, after the party revealed it would direct second preferences to Mr Rorris.
"There can no longer be any doubt the Liberals want Mr Rorris elected to ensure they get four more years to privatise our electricity network and make further vicious cuts to essential services," Ms Hay said.
"I have no doubt the denials will be strong but if it looks like a secret preference deal and sounds like a secret preference deal, it is a preference deal."
However, Mr Rorris said he was advised of the Liberals' preferences by media on Sunday but said he wanted to wait to see the how-to-vote cards at pre-polling booths on Monday.
"I had a conversation with all the candidates I could find and speak to [prior to preferences being decided] and I told each and every one of them the reason I was running," Mr Rorris said.
"I also said ... I would not be making deals and I'd be preferencing number one.
"I felt that, as an independent, that was the best way to do the job that needed to be done."
"The Liberals now want another four years to hurt Wollongong even further and clearly the Liberals see the election of Mr Rorris as their best chance to keep cutting and selling," Ms Hay said.
Mr Rorris described Ms Hay's "shenanigans" as "too little, too late".
"Noreen should forget about the Liberal preferences, frankly her biggest problem at the moment is the Labor Party members themselves who are sick of her and want her replaced," Mr Rorris said.
"When members of her own party want to get rid of her, why can't she just accept that people of other parties also want to get rid of her?
"The message Noreen Hay has had her day is what we've been hearing word-for-word from her own constituents."
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Mike Baird had a simple answer when asked if a vote for Mr Rorris would mean a vote for the Liberals.
"I've got another choice - a vote for [Wollongong candidate] Cameron Walters is a vote for the Liberals, that's a pretty easy one," Mr Baird said during his Albion Park Rail bypass announcement.
"The local member has to stand on her track record; I don't remember her standing here with her party ... announcing she would deliver the Albion Park Rail bypass, we are and that is the big difference," Mr Baird said.
*An earlier version of this story said Mr Rorris was not aware of the Liberals' preferences until Monday. This has been amended.
