South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris has joined the throng of opposition to a new permit system coming into force on Saturday.
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Mr Rorris agreed with Illawarra Labor MP's Paul Scully, Anna Watson and Ryan Park that including only Shellharbour as a regional area made no sense.
Wollongong will remain part of Greater Sydney but Wollongong residents will not need a permit to travel to Shellharbour, nor anywhere else within 50 kilometres of Greater Sydney.
Shellharbour residents also do not need a permit to travel anywhere else in regional NSW.
Regardless the union boss said the "political decision" to divide the Illawarra could have "dire" health repercussions for the whole region.
"This makes no sense. It exposes the whole Illawarra, not just Wollongong but Shellharbour as well," Mr Rorris said.
"It is very badly thought through and essentially it reeks of some political favouritism.
"I think we are going to have to name it Checkpoint Gareth on the Windang Bridge because that is what it will become known as. A politically expedient decision that makes no sense from a health policy perspective at all, just ask the health experts themselves."
I think we are going to have to name it Checkpoint Gareth on the Windang Bridge.
- SCLC secretary Arthur Rorris
Earlier this week Member for Kiama Gareth Ward talked up the permit system. On Thursday Mr Ward hit out Illawarra's Labor MP's for "stuffing up the permit scheme".
Mr Rorris urged NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian to restore the regional status of Wollongong and the whole of the Illawarra, not half of it.
He added Wollongong Hospital was another compelling reason why the city needed to be classified as a regional area.
"Wollongong Hospital is in the Greater Sydney area, yet we know that Wollongong Hospital is the tertiary hospital for the whole south coast," Mr Rorris said.
"It is a resource for the entire region, not just Wollongong and Shellharbour, but further south.
"Why would you split in two and deprive the Illawarra Shoalhaven Health District of its most important asset, which is Wollongong Hospital from being able to service the entire region?
"We are not out of the woods yet and the state government is effectively taking Wollongong Hospital for Greater Sydney and depriving the entire South Coast.
"That's a very very expensive, political decision in our books. It makes no sense and we are not going to put up with this. The Premier needs to step in and reverse this crazy decision.
"The Illawarra is one region, not two and no politician will be allowed to divide it."
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