Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

And it is even more worrying for Mr Foster and his partner, Danielle, because she is pregnant, and not being able to use a phone at home is a serious concern for their young family. Worse still, these parts of the south-east are highly bushfire prone, and emergency services alert systems rely on mobile phone reception.

Haynes is eligible for funding for a mobile base station under the Mobile Black Spot Program as a locality on the outskirts of Perth. So I wrote to the Minister for Communications on 3 August this year, asking that any request for funding from a mobile operator for a base station to service Haynes be considered as a priority. I also wrote to Telstra, asking that they consider building such a base station. Almost four months on and the minister is yet to even be bothered to respond.

So alongside the state member for Armadale, Dr Tony Buti, I have been out collecting signatures for this petition, and I am happy to see that more than 120 people have added their voices to our call for the Turnbull government to stop ignoring telecommunications in Haynes and Hilbert. This problem is only going to get worse as more and more people move in to this beautiful new residential area. We need industry and government to step up and build the infrastructure needed to ensure that our outer suburban communities have the same access to basic utilities as those in the inner city.

This petition makes the same request to the minister as my letter. I hope that the weight of community support behind the petition compels the minister to stop ignoring the people of Haynes and Hilbert and afford the highest priority to a new base station in the area. I might add that if it were not for the disastrous delays in rolling out the NBN then we would at least have some communication in the area, but we haven't, thereby making it even more important that this request is heeded by the government.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker an Members of the House of Representatives

We, the undersigned, express our concern at the lack of mobile phone reception in Haynes, Hilbert and surrounding suburbs, which is undermining the ability of residents in this rapidly growing area to participate fully in the 21st economy and increases risk to safety in these bushfire-prone areas, where mobile phone communication is essential.

We therefore ask the House to call on the Minister for Regional Communications to ensure Haynes, Hilbert and surrounding suburbs are of the highest priority for the consideration for funding in the next round of the Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Programme, and to call on the Minister to write to national mobile network operations to request proposals for funded base stations in this area in the next round of the Mobile Black Spot Programme.

from 121 citizens

Petition received.

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