The people of Wollongong have spoken after another 'smack in the face' for the city.
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And they are far from happy that Wollongong will now remain in lockdown until at least the end of September, while neighbouring city Shellharbour could get out as early as August 28, due to being classified as a regional area.
This was the last straw for many Wollongong residents, including Craig Troth.
The Mount Ousley resident started a change.org petition titled 'If it's good enough for Shellharbour, it's good enough for Wollongong'.
"Please share this link with as many of your friends as you can. We need to get the message through to Macquarie Street that we aren't going to put up with this. We are always considered regional, when it comes to other matters of state, but all this stupidity is causing our region to be torn in two ... we once were the ILLAWARRA region .. thank you all," Mr Troth's petition stated.
Mr Troth kicked off his petition on Friday morning. By 5pm almost 400 people had already signed his petition.
A number of Illawarra Mercury readers have also expressed their displeasure that Wollongong was part of Greater Sydney and had to stay in lockdown for at least another month.
"There's never been many cases in Wollongong," one reader stated on a story outlining the latest introduced COVID measures.
Another commented "this is ridiculous. It's another smack in the face for the city."
This is ridiculous. It's another smack in the face for the city.
And another said "if Shellharbour is released, so should Wollongong. I still don't understand how the government thinks [these are not one big community]."
"Absolutely infuriating that they are easing up restrictions on the Central Coast, which has had literally 10 times the number of cases as Wollongong, yet Wollongong is considered part of Greater Sydney," another reader vented.
The community's concern surfaced on Friday when the NSW Government announced the lockdown would be extended until the end of September for Greater Sydney and local government areas of concern, where the vast majority of cases are emerging.
Other measures were also introduced as NSW battles to quell the Delta outbreak. For Greater Sydney including regional NSW until August 28, from 12.01am Monday, August 23 mask wearing will be mandatory when outside your home, except when exercising.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
