Normally a local council responsibility, Labor has promised to introduce a $250 million nationwide program to pay for pothole repairs with councils eligible for at least $2 million each.

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Speaking at West Dapto, Labor's Whitlam MP Stephen Jones said he had previously fought for local road funding for work on the Fowlers Road bridge and upgrades to Shone Avenue.

He said voters didn't care whether patching up the roads was a local council or federal responsibility.

"When I'm on the hustings the last thing a voter wants to hear, frankly, is me saying 'I'm sorry, that's a local government responsibility'," Mr Jones said.

"They want to see some action.

"This stuff just has to happen. Let's not have an argument about which layer of government is responsible. Let's just work together and get it done."

Mr Jones said he wanted to see state governments match the funding commitment, with those council areas affected by the recent weather events given priority when accessing the funds.

"The big weather events over the last three months have absolutely smashed our local roads in the Illawarra, in the Southern Highlands - in fact up and down the East Coast," he said.

"I've been calling on a tripartite arrangement between local government, state government and federal government funding to fix the potholes in our roads.

"In some places up and down West Dapto Road we've got a road that is literally potholes strapped together by tarmac.

"We need to get an urgent injection of funding to fix the potholes in these roads, particularly in the new development areas."

If Labor was elected, Mr Jones said the money needed to start flowing "immediately".

"With the local governments a guarantee of the money these coming is just an important, because they can factor it into their budgets," he said.

"I'm not pretending this injection of funds is going to fix every pothole on every road - it's a start."

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said council would welcome any extra federal funds to help fix the roads in the area.

Cr Bradbery said the widespread road damage across the state had also made it a problem finding the resources to carry out the repairs.

"Procurement is a big challenge at the present time," he said.

"It's not only an issue of throwing money at it, it's also finding the suppliers, the contractors and the materials to do the work.

"It's not so much the money, it is the ability of getting contractors and resourcing."

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