The NSW government announced earlier this week it would spend $13 million to build a permanent luxury cruise terminal facility in Newcastle. Similar spending in the Illawarra won’t be forthcoming, according to the Premier’s office.

That is unless other organisations help to make it happen via the government’s multimillion-dollar Port Kembla Community Investment Fund (PKCIF). 

A spokesman for Mr Baird said Port Kembla “already has infrastructure available to be able to berth cruise ships” and cited Destination Wollongong was satisfied with current arrangements. 

The PKCIF, announced in March, “could receive applications in partnership with other bodies to renovate and construct infrastructure to facilitate cruise shipping in the future”, the spokesman said.  

The PKCIF provides an annual allocation of funding, linked to the long-term lease of the suburb’s port. 

The cash for the Newcastle cruise terminal comes from the Hunter Infrastructure and Investment Fund.

Earlier this week, Destination Wollongong general manager Mark Sleigh told the Mercury the government’s planned Newcastle build appeared to be “very similar to what’s already available at Port Kembla”.

Illawarra First executive director Chris Lamont used World Maritime Day, on Thursday, to call for a cruise terminal to be among the “essential items” in an “economic blueprint” of the area.

Mr Baird’s spokesman said the berthing of Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas and other ships showed Port Kembla “has a bright future as a cruise destination”.