When the portfolio was abolished in 2015, the region's main newspaper, the Illawarra Mercury, noted that all but one of the men to hold the title later departed politics under a cloud: "The now-defunct ministry has been something of a poisoned chalice over the past 12 years, with five of the six ministers who have held the position being disgraced, sacked or forced to resign over their behaviour."
Labor's David Campbell, the first Minister for the Illawarra, quit politics after being filmed leaving a gay bath-house in Sydney.
Paul McLeay quit cabinet after admitting to using a parliamentary computer to visit gambling and porn websites.
Eric Roozendaal was a target of the Independent Commission Against Corruption's Operation Indus due to his dealings with disgraced former minister Eddie Obeid, but was cleared in 2013.
The last Minister for the Illawarra, the Liberal party's John Ajaka, "managed to break the portfolio’s curse," however.