There were two words within the 2018 NSW Budget documents that delivered the biggest blow to Wollongong.
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Inked within the text of a regional NSW overview, on a page titled Illawarra-Shoalhaven, were the words "*excluding Wollongong".
Despite the city having been included in similar documents in previous years, Wollongong was suddenly no longer regional. The words appeared to cement the city's classification as a metropolitan city, not a regional centre.
"Local government authorities: Kiama, Shellharbour and Shoalhaven, *excluding Wollongong," the budget's regional overview read.
It was the latest kick in the guts for the city, on the back of months of uncertainty around the changing definition of the city and the barriers posed by inconsistent definitions when it came to accessing government funding.
Wollongong lord mayor Gordon Bradbery has been vocal about the need for the city to remain a regional centre and the Mercury's previous attempts to clarify the city's classification have been unable to find a definitive answer.
In fact, as recently as last week, a spokeswoman for Deputy Premier John Barilaro told Keira MP Ryan Park via a question without notice that "there is no standard methodology for defining a local government area as metropolitan or regional".
A spokesman from Treasurer Dominic Perrottet's office confirmed Wollongong's omission, telling the Mercury inside Tuesday's budget lock-up that the city was not classed as regional under Department of Premier and Cabinet guidelines.
That's despite the local government areas of Kiama, Shellharbour and the Shoalhaven - and the 196,289 people who called those LGAs home last year, being classified regional.
Further questioning around when the change was made to exclude Wollongong from regional NSW saw a separate Treasury spokesman state the city had been metropolitan since the introduction of the Restart NSW fund in 2011.
As a result of the city's omission, no projects within the Wollongong electorate were featured in the regional overview.
Even a media release included among the raft of budget documents, titled "Illawarra benefits from the budget", contained more South Coast and Shoalhaven projects than those in the Greater Wollongong area.
The only mention of Wollongong on the release was the previously-announced, ongoing work to upgrade Gwynneville Public School.
There was more detail included for projects outside Wollongong then there was in it. Newcastle found itself in the same position, with a Hunter and Central Coast overview excluding that city.
The Treasurer's spokesman said Wollongong projects would be found in Budget Paper 2. However, a page of that budget paper reaffirmed Wollongong's classification - in the context that 30 per cent of Restart NSW funding over time being targeted at "regional and rural areas outside the metropolitan areas of Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong".
In a further kick in the guts for Wollongong, organisations in the city's local government area will also be ineligible for cash as part of the Snowy Hydro Legacy Fund Bill.
The bill will distribute the $4.2 billion in proceeds from the federal government's Snowy Hydro Scheme transaction to fund projects in regional NSW (*excluding Wollongong).
Andrew Pearson
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
Andrew grew up in the western Riverina town of Hay and has strong ties to the region. He is a former DA journo who has a passion for breaking news and has covered everything from council and politics to crime and court.
