The new Shadow Minister for the Illawarra and South Coast, Chris Rath, believes the Coalition can alleviate the housing problems in the region if they can get back into government.

Rath recently stepped into the role, taking over from Deputy Liberal Leader Natalie Ward and the Wollongong-born Upper House MP is adamant the Coalition has the policies to solve the widespread issue.

The Coalition will have to wait until early 2027 before the NSW electorate goes back to the polls but Rath said their recently announced policy of stamp duty concessions for downsizers was the kind of action needed.

“We have this situation at the moment where there's a lot of older people that are in large houses that want to downsize - empty nesters,” he said.

“But they would be hit with a huge stamp duty bill if they were to move to the next place. And it's often a disincentive.

“And it means that those houses aren't then put on the market for younger Australians to buy.

“I think is a really positive policy because, particularly in the Kiama area, housing is such a massive issue. It's incredibly expensive.”

Rath supports development in town centres as the appropriate place for extra density.

“You've got to get the balance right. And you've got to bring the community with you,” he said.

“It's not unreasonable for people to want the infrastructure to keep pace with housing supply and for them to want to be consulted in the process.

“We do need more housing everywhere. We can't just oppose all housing and say that our own community must look exactly the same today as it did 50 years ago or will in 50 years’ time.

“Every area is going to change, but it's got to be done in the right way.”

Rath, who attended St Patrick's Primary School at Port Kembla and Edmund Rice College before he went to Sydney for university, is moving back to the area.

When he was approached by Opposition Leader Mark Speakman to take on the Shadow Minister’s role, he was thrilled.

“I think it made sense from Mark's perspective when he did approach me to put me into the role as someone who's moving back to the area, grew up in the area, his friends and family are there, who knows the area really well to represent it,” he said.

“I don't think there's any greater honour than to be able to represent and advocate for the area that you grew up in and a part of the world that you love and that you want to see thrive and prosper.”

Labor is dominating the political landscape along the South Coast at state and federal level.

“This is a problem for the Liberal Party - from Helensburgh to the Victorian border, we don't have any Liberal representation,” Rath added.

“And if you go back not that long ago, state and federally, we had a lot of seats - we had the state seat of Heathcote, we had Kiama, we had South Coast, we had Bega. Now we don't have any of them.

“So, hopefully as a member of the Upper House, who will be based locally, at least there will be some Liberal representation in the Illawarra, and I think that's important to hold Labor to account as well.

“We want to present our views, our policy ideas, we think we've got the better approach, we want to try and win back some of these seats.”

Rath said problems with railway commuter times, highway traffic around Dapto and Nowra, and hospital waiting lists were other issues that were not being properly addressed by the Government on the South Coast.