All stories
The front page and the section pages show what is current. This page lists everything we have published, so a story stays findable after it stops being news.
Community + Coast
Tourism Research Australia publishes a visitor profile for every local government area on one set of definitions. Wollongong draws 4,114,000 visitors and $999 million; Kiama draws 1,149,000 and $375 million. But Kiama's visitors spend $327 a trip against Wollongong's $243, and $198 a night against $145. Two-year average for 2023 to 2024.
29 August 2026
Community + Coast
BOCSAR's local government area tables for the 12 months to March 2026 show three offences with a statistically significant two-year trend in Wollongong. Domestic violence related assault is up 22.5 per cent, breaching an apprehended violence order is up 14.7 per cent, and drug possession is down. Across NSW, domestic violence related assault is stable. Shellharbour and Kiama show no significant movement either.
28 August 2026
Councils
The NSW Office of Local Government's 2024-25 time series data gives every council's population and its number of councillors. Wollongong has 221,894 residents and 13 councillors, or 17,069 each, which ranks 8th of 127. Shellharbour has 9,063 each and ranks 28th. Kiama has 2,575 each and sits below the state median of 3,038. The gap across one region is a factor of 6.6.
25 August 2026
Port & industry
Transport for NSW's own freight data says Port Kembla is NSW's largest terminal for vehicle imports and grain exports, and the second largest for coal exports. Steel is not on that list. Where the monthly tonnage data lives, and who compiles it.
24 August 2026
Councils
A disallowance motion in May killed the rule making council meeting livestreams compulsory, leaving councils free to post a recording afterwards instead. Wollongong, Kiama and Shellharbour all say they still stream. On the public record, two of the three let you find the recording.
16 August 2026
Councils
A disallowance motion in the NSW Legislative Council in May 2026 removed the 2025 Model Code of Meeting Practice, so mandatory livestreaming, limits on councillors attending online and briefing rules no longer apply. The 2021 code came back automatically, and it lets a council publish the recording live or afterwards. Wollongong's draft code keeps livestreaming and moves Public Forum back into the meeting. Feedback closed on 12 August 2026.
4 August 2026
Port + Industry
Registrations for the Illawarra REZ Community Reference Group closed at 5pm on Monday 10 August 2026. This is Australia's first urban Renewable Energy Zone, which means rooftops, spare government land and community batteries rather than transmission corridors across farmland. EnergyCo wants locals from eight named backgrounds.
31 July 2026
Health
The eight-storey hospital at Dunmore reached its highest point on 23 July 2026, four years after the site was secured. Health Infrastructure says construction finishes in late 2027, and no opening date has been published. What the $828.9 million actually buys, and the three parts of the project already finished.
28 July 2026
Port & industry
Whoever ends up owning BlueScope, the company is already changing what its Port Kembla land is for: 200 hectares of non-operational land rezoned for a wider range of uses. Beside that sits an unresolved takeover approach from SGH and Steel Dynamics. The timeline, strictly from BlueScope's own ASX releases.
19 July 2026
Development & land
The state's council league table puts average DA assessment at 103 days in Wollongong, 84 in Kiama and 58 in Shellharbour for 2025-26. The statewide benchmark was 105 days, and from 1 July it tightened to 95. What the numbers mean, who they are fair to, and the working shown.
19 July 2026
Councils
Wollongong City Council has endorsed the rezoning for Homes NSW's Gwynneville renewal: up to 1,200 homes, 60 per cent social and affordable, at three to six storeys instead of the high-rise first proposed. The infrastructure deal is now on exhibition, and that is where the detail gets decided.
19 July 2026
Development & land
Transport for NSW's own June update puts the $390 million Mount Ousley interchange at 52 per cent complete, with the first big traffic switch due mid to late 2026. Around it sits a pipeline of announced projects at very different stages, including one, Picton Road, that is funded for planning only. The honest status of each, from the delivery agencies' own documents.
19 July 2026
Health
Margaret Martin becomes chief executive of the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District from 20 July. Margot Mains, who led the district through bushfires, COVID and the bed-block squeeze, departs after 12 years for a new NSW Health role coordinating aged care and disability reform, the very problem that has jammed local hospital beds.
19 July 2026
Councils
Kiama Council has unanimously accepted a varied Performance Improvement Order from the NSW local government minister: balance the budget a year later, by 2027-28, in exchange for tighter conditions, including a ban on outsourcing domestic waste and a business case for Blue Haven Terralong.
19 July 2026
Port & industry
No feasibility licences exist and the one applicant, BlueFloat, has withdrawn. But the 1,022 square kilometre declared zone off the Illawarra coast remains legally in effect and can reopen for applications. What the declaration actually did, what lapsed, and what is still live.
19 July 2026
Community & coast
Wollongong has ten times Kiama's population; Kiama's median age is nine years older than everyone else's; Shellharbour rents ran ahead of Wollongong's even in 2021. A baseline portrait of the region from the Census and Kiama's live economic profile, with the data's limits stated plainly.
19 July 2026