In fact, Mrs Phillips heard about the event on local radio.

"No I didn't get an invite," she said.

"I heard about it on the radio and thought as federal member I should go for the community.

"It didn't surprise me I didn't get an invite.

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"I suppose you could say it's a bit insulting - I am the federal member but that's the way it went.

"I went to represent the community."

Although not officially invited Mrs Phillips said it was a special occasion.

"My family was here for the opening of the old Nowra bridge and then the next bridge - it means so much to be here today," she said.

"The revitalisation of the Shoalhaven riverfront is absolutely paramount and that includes the Nowra bridge project.

"I acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues, I have seen so many people fight for this project for so long.

"Everyone experiences that traffic build-up. This has been a long time coming and it certainly is a project I have been fighting for. Every day I go into the parliament I'm talking about bringing infrastructure funding forward."

She said a Nowra bypass was "absolutely needed".

"We need to start those discussions," she said.

"We are here where the new Nowra bridge will be, let's move forward, this is about jobs. This new bridge will have a lot more capacity, it will help locals.

"Sure we need to do the bypass but it's also important for freight, we have a lot of agricultural producers and we need to get that freight going and that helps jobs as well."

It was also interesting that Shoalhaven City Council was also a no show at the sod-turning - the question is were they invited?