Climate change is the top priority for Illawarra residents as the nation heads to a federal election.
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Issues like immigration and industrial relations didn't really worry Wollongong residents, with those topics finishing at the bottom of the list.
Read more: Shark stories from Wollongong's past
In a poll carried out by Illawarra Mercury owner Australian Community Media (ACM) through the Mercury and the other papers it publishes across the country, climate and the environment was high on people's minds.
Nationally, of the more than 7,200 ACM readers outside the major metropolitan cities, 43 per cent saw "environment and climate change" as the most important issue.
That figure was reflected in the Illawarra, with 94 of the 216 readers surveyed - 43 per cent - ranking it as No1 in their list of the top three priorities.
People also submitted questions they would like to ask Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese.
"Is climate change more important to you than workers' jobs and the economy?" one Mercury reader wanted to know.
Another wondered which major political party had the guts to stop coal mining.
Second on the list of priorities was health (28 per cent), followed by the need for a federal corruption commission (24 per cent) and the household cost of living (21 per cent).
"When is there going to be a Federal ICAC with teeth and freedom to investigate past and present issues," one reader asked, "to restore confidence that government are working for the people and not just donors or mates?"
Among the issues that the region was least concerned about were immigration and industrial relations - two areas the Coalition government has focused on in the past.
Those issues were top three priorities for just three per cent of Illawarra residents.
Also, hardly anyone seems to care about religious discrimination, a key policy of the Morrison government.
Just four per cent of Illawarra residents felt that was a priority, with three per cent of respondents worried about it nationally.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
