The community backlash over dividing the Illawarra by classifying only Shellharbour as a regional area, has seen five of the region's MP's and one Australian Senator take action.
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State MP's Anna Watson, Paul Scully and Ryan Park, the respective representative members of Shellharbour, Wollongong and Keira, have penned a letter to NSW Premier Gladys Berijiklian.
Federal members for Whitlam and Cunningham respectively, Stephen Jones and Sharon Bird, as well as Australian Senator Concetta Anna Fierravanti-Wells also put their names to the letter.
In the letter, the politicians urged the premier to reverse her decision to split the Illawarra along the local government boundaries of Wollongong and Shellharbour.
Bundling Wollongong in Greater Sydney means the city's residents will have to stay in lockdown until at least the end of September.
Residents in neighbouring Shellharbour could be out of lockdown as early as next Saturday, August 28.
'We understand the difficulties that part of Sydney faces and the need for the government to act decisively to limit the spread of COVID," they wrote.
"All of the arguments that apply to Shellharbour and its classification as part of regional NSW apply to Wollongong.
"Wollongong has been doing its bit to achieve this.
"We have low case numbers, consistently lower than the Central Coast and the Hunter and we have not experienced community transmission. We have relatively high testing and vaccination rates - the Illawarra's second dose vaccinations rank in the top 10 areas in NSW."
The "politically bipartisan representatives" also urged that now was a time to unite communities to fight the spread of the virus.
The best way to keep our community united in its response to COVID is to keep our region united.
- MP's letter to Premier
The politicians said splitting Wollongong and Shellharbour divides the Illawarra region.
They argued it was time for Wollongong and Shellharbour local government areas to be classed as regional NSW for the purpose of the COVID response.
"Our view is shared by the labour movement and business community," the letter said.
"The Illawarra has always functioned as a single economy, a single community and it is part of a single network of health assets.
"The best way to keep our community united in its response to COVID is to keep our region united."
By Saturday morning almost 2500 people had signed Mount St Thomas resident Craig Troth's change.org petition urging for Wollongong and Shellharbour to be classified as regional NSW areas.
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