How will you relieve the cost of living pressures for Illawarra residents?

Here's how they responded, seat by seat.

Paul Scully MP (Labor): Labor will end privatisation. And we'll change the law to stop privatisation into the future.

We will protect public assets the community have told us they want protected: Sydney Water, Hunter Water, Water NSW, Endeavour Energy, Ausgrid, Essential Energy, the Sydney Harbour Crossings, iCare, Forestry Corp, Landcom, and the NSW Port Authority - the NSW Liberals have refused to rule out selling these public assets off.

NSW Labor will abolish stamp duty outright for first homebuyers buying a home worth up to $800,000 and a concessional rate for first homebuyers purchasing a property up to $1 million - and there won't be a NSW Liberals' forever tax payable every year on the family home.

NSW Labor will end secret rent bidding, invest in community batteries, and create the NSW Energy Security Corporation.

Labor's $485 million Energy Relief Fund will help lower power bills for 320,000 eligible small businesses and 1.6 million eligible NSW families and households.

NSW households who are hit hardest by rising electricity prices will receive $250 directly off their energy bill and when matched with $250 from the Commonwealth = Government's Energy Bill Relief Fund, around 1.6 million eligible households will get $500 off their electricity bills.

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Small businesses make up 98 per cent of all businesses in NSW and employ 1.8 million people. If they close down, people lose their jobs, their livelihoods and their ability to make ends meet. Under Labor, eligible NSW small businesses will receive $315 directly off their energy bill. This will also help reduce cost pressures on the prices of goods and services to their customers.

Thousands of workers and businesses leave the Illawarra each day. Many of them use the extensive network of Sydney toll roads to get to the next job, or their workplace, and then back home again.

A Minns Labor Government would introduce a $60 a week cap on tolls for drivers and will slash tolls for tradies and truck drivers along the M5 East and the M8, immediately helping to ease the burden of increasing tolls crippling small businesses who need to move around Sydney.

Cath Blakey (The Greens): As your Greens MP for Wollongong I will push the NSW government to invest in public services that relieve cost of living pressure. Successive Liberal and Labor governments have sold public assets, run down and privatised services and cut public sector jobs leaving the people of NSW exposed to increased costs when private shareholders take a cut. Taxes on excessive corporate profits would certainly help ease inflation and be used to fund essential services. It's clear that inequality is undermining our prosperity - it means the barista can't find a secure and affordable rental, and the nurse moves interstate where the pay and conditions are better.

Instead of giving $78 million to a gas power company, I want the NSW government to establish a publicly-owned electricity authority that aims to break even and enhance renewable energy generation and storage in the grid.

Instead of leaving families on social housing waiting list for 10 years, I will ban the sale of public housing and ensure that more public housing is built.

Instead of giving developers special treatment and tax concessions, I am committed to planning rules that require new large developments to have at least 30 percent long-term affordable housing.

Instead of granting mining licenses in our drinking water catchment I will push the government to preserve our drinking water catchment and ensure we have affordable and robust publicly owned water supply in-perpetuity.

Instead of contracting out bus services, I will push the NSW government to invest in making public transport free, frequent, reliable and publicly owned and operated. Did you know that contract for Opal Plus is $500 million dollars!? Instead of a fancy ticketing system and persecuting the poor for fair evasion the Greens are pushing to make public transport free. The state government already subsidises 80% of public transport costs. Malta, Luxembourg and many cities in Europe have introduced extensive free public transport networks because it keeps people moving, reduces transport emissions and dissolves traffic congestion.

As an MP for Wollongong I will push the state government to give local councils financial security through equitable state government funding and an end to cost shifting. Libraries, child care centres, parks, streets and footpaths - Council maintains all kinds of services, facilities and infrastructure in Wollongong that are well used and much loved. The state government imposes costs like the landfill levy and emergency services levy without reinvesting it in council services or infrastructure.

Of course, fee-free and well resourced public health care are also essential to relieving the cost of living pressure for Illawarra residents.

As your Greens MP for Wollongong I will push the NSW government to make the big banks, fossil fuel companies, property developers and the gambling industry pay their fair share of tax so we can invest in renewable energy, affordable housing and public services for all. Housing, water, electricity and transport are all sectors where serious public investment is needed.

For more on the Greens plan to lower of living pressures visit our website: https://greens.org.au/nsw/loweringthecostofliving

Kit Docker (The Greens): Governments need to pursue structural and lasting change to provide permanent cost of living relief for Illawarra families. Too often governments resort to band-aid solutions and short-term thinking when it comes to alleviating cost of living pressures.

Vouchers and rebates are great but at the end of the day these are short sighted and don't go to the root cause of the problems we are facing.As a lifelong renter, I know the stress that is caused by not knowing how long I'll be living in my home.

I want to see greater security and certainty given to renters by limiting the size and frequency of rent increases, banning no-grounds evictions, and giving renters the option of longer leases. To ensure that everyone can afford a place to call home, the Greens will introduce legislation that requires property developers to include a minimum of 30 percent affordable housing in new large developments.

We will re-establishing a public bank for NSW and join other countries in providing mortgage holders with real choice when it comes to borrowing for the family home. Mortgage holders shouldn't be forced to pay shareholder profits as part of their fortnightly repayments.

When it comes to our electricity bills, it's abundantly clear that privatisation has failed. The people of NSW are being taken advantage of by greedy energy companies, who are making mega-profits by capitalising on the war in Ukraine.

The Greens solution is simple: give customers a new option by introducing a publicly-owned electricity authority that aims to break even rather than profit from their customers.Finally, NSW needs to follow cities all over the world by providing free and accessible public transport and lift the public sector wage cap to prevent thousands of households from real wage cuts.

Ryan Park MP (Labor): This is an election about choices. And the fundamental choice the voters of NSW will have to make is what kind of NSW do you want to live in?

We know that local households are facing ever growing bills. That is why a Minns Labor Government will deliver $250 for local households to help reduce their electricity bills. Eligible Small businesses across the Illawarra will receive $315 to help reduce their energy bill.

The Illawarra has a large number of locals travelling to Sydney for work each and every day. We will cap how much they pay for tolls at no more than $60 each week.

Parents and families are doing it really tough right now. The cost of everything is going up. A Minns Labor Government will commit $8 million to Foodbank NSW & ACT to help it continue the School Breakfast 4 Health program - which currently delivers millions of nutritious breakfasts to children across more than 500 schools.

Having a supply of safe, affordable water is a basic right for NSW families. But that is now at stake in this election. Dominic Perrottet should be judged on his past performance. He will privatise Sydney Water, hiking water bills for families and threatening the safety and sanitation of our drinking water.

As I said, this election is about a choice about more of the same - running down our essential services and the people who work in them, and more privatisation of our essential assets. Or a fresh start under Labor.

Jamie Dixon (The Greens): We have built the issue of cost-of-living into all our policies for this election. The Greens are unencumbered by lobbyists or corporate donations, and will make the necessary choices to spend the state's $120 billion a year budget where it is needed most by the public.

This includes doing away with the $500 million Opal network ticketing system, and making all public transport free to immediately reduce travel costs, increase accessibility to employment, and reduce reliance on private vehicles and fossil fuels. The Greens will ensure that everyone across the state has access to fee free healthcare by forming appropriately placed, and properly staffed community healthcare clinics.

The Greens will reverse the disastrous sell-off of our energy sector, by establishing a public owned renewable energy provider which both builds the infrastructure, and provides at-cost access to the public without the 20 per cent privatisation markup.

We will ensure that all our public schools are paid 100 per cent of the Schools Resourcing Standard, build the capacity for free preschooling, and return TAFE to its previous status as a fee free public vocational education provider, so that public education at all stages will not cost the public a cent.

In conjunction with these measures, the Greens will abolish the public sector wage cap, and give healthcare workers, teachers, and firefighters an immediate 15 per cent wage increase, so that the people we need to deliver these essential public services, can afford to live where the services are needed.

Anna Watson (Labor): Among measures aimed at getting the cost of living under control as detailed in Labor's policies is an end to priviatisation.

Labor will safe-guard state owned assets from further privatisation.

Dominic Perrottet calls privatisation "the golden key that unlocked the door of opportunity for NSW", even though power bills immediately shot up after the Liberals privatised our electricity network in 2015, and are currently rising by 20 per cent.

Other measures include creating the NSW Energy Security Corporation, ending secret rent bidding, abolishing and reducing stamp duty for first home buyers and delivering more stability and reliability in our state's energy supply by building community batteries. Read more here.

Tonia Gray (The Greens): I have lived in the Illawarra for over six decades and come from working class background in multicultural Port Kembla during the first 10 years of my life. I am mindful that reliable and safe housing is a basic human right, everyone needs a sanctuary ad refuge.

The Greens will stop unfair evictions, build affordable homes and end the special treatment for property investors. We know renting laws need to be fairer and secure, making rental increases are in line with wage growth and optional long-term rental arrangements.

The Greens will insist that 30 per cent of all new private residential developments are set aside for long-term affordable housing - so that everyone has access to a secure, affordable home.

A vote for The Greens puts people before profits.

Katelin McInerney (Labor): I am proud of Labor's plan to help ease cost of living pressure in our region by taking $250 directly off electricity bills for NSW families that have been hit the hardest by rising energy prices, and $315 for eligible small businesses.

This cost of living relief will happen automatically and means that already over-stretched families and businesses won't have to go through any unnecessary application processes - these savings will come directly off your energy bill.

NSW Labor will also institute constitutional protections to prevent the sale of Sydney Water. The NSW Liberals obsession with privatisation has already resulted in higher electricity prices and if Dominic Perrottet and Matt Kean sell off Sydney Water, Kiama household water bills could surge by $264 each year - or 59 per cent.

The Sustainable Australia Party provided the following answer on behalf of its candidates in all electorates:

This is a growing problem fuelled by long term and unsustainable policies in many areas, including energy, housing, education and rapid population growth. We need to acknowledge these so that systemic issues can be addressed. To bring down energy costs we would reserve more of our gas for domestic use, invest more in renewable energy and stabilise Australia's population size. To make housing more affordable we would phase out negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions for property investors, ban foreign ownership and stabilise Australia's population size. To make education more affordable, we should make TAFE and university free again.