Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

There is no doubt that the government's Mobile Black Spot Program has led to positive outcomes in regional Australia. There are many country communities that are more connected and much safer as a result of the rollout of the 765 towers in rounds 1 and 2. However, from where I stand as a representative of the regional communities of Mayo, the program has only addressed a fraction of the need in rural Australia. The fact that there are no further rounds in the budget beyond round 3 is just ridiculous.

If the government believe they have addressed mobile phone coverage across our nation, they are misinformed. On a drive from north to south across the mainland portion of my electorate from Springton to Cape Jervis, I will drop out of mobile phone coverage at least 10 times, and many of those periods are quite extended, beyond 15 minutes of driving. On Kangaroo Island outside the townships, the coverage is sporadic at best. And, as my electorate discovered to its detriment earlier this year, the allocation of taxpayer money for this program has overlooked a significant problem of limited battery storage when the mobile phone towers run out of power. The power is always cut on extreme bushfire days, so you have this incredibly dangerous situation in high-risk bushfire areas where there is no mobile telecommunications on our most catastrophic days.

In February 2016, the government announced $60 million for round 2 of the mobile phone black-spot funding. This funding equated to 266 new mobile phone tower stations. South Australia was granted just 20 of these nominated sites and Mayo received just two, at Stokes Bay, on Kangaroo Island, and Parawa, on the Fleurieu Peninsula. These are very deserving locations, but we need so many more. At the beginning of round 1 in December 2014, there were 133 mobile black-spot sites identified in Mayo, but by the end of round 2 we had just three allocations.

Our community needs and deserves full coverage. Our hills, escarpment and dense bushland make driving on our country roads dangerous, and we are, sadly, known as a region that has had its fair share of bushfires. This program must go beyond round 3. It is unacceptable for the government to leave regional Australia behind. We are a vast country, and it is premature for the government to think that mobile phone coverage in regional Australia will be complete by round 3, so I will continue to advocate for this program. In my region alone, 44 priority sites out of 130 nominations in Mayo need the chance of coverage.

I will also be seeking answers to the questions I have previously raised in parliament about the limited battery storage capabilities in mobile phone towers, particularly in high-risk areas. It is unacceptable that towers go out after just four hours of battery storage and that it is inevitable that we will lose power. We need at least 12 hours of storage. Telecommunication is our survival key. Fibre-to-the-node and fixed wireless NBN only works when we have power. When it is a catastrophic day, we lose power, so we lose our ability to communicate with the outside world. This is effectively leaving people in my community stranded.

Last year over the Christmas period, in the middle of the fire danger season, in my communities of Mylor, Echunga, Scott Creek, Bridgewater and Aldgate we lost power for days, not hours. Besides many practical hardships such as not being able to flush toilets or pump drinking water, these communities lost contact with the rest of the world. Besides sighting smoke, we had no idea if a fire was coming. Most of the mobile phone towers in the area failed within just a few hours, and batteries at the phone exchange also went down. As many of the parts of the area have fibre to the node, households lost their landlines immediately.

I call on the government with round 3 and any future rounds—and I do hope that this continues—to make sure that we have at least 12 hours of battery storage. This will improve the program. I think that it is only fair that we expect telcos to do this when we are providing them with taxpayer funds. The Mobile Black Spot Program, as the member for Capricornia said, has delivered many good outcomes for regional and remote Australia, but it must continue because regional and rural Australia should not be left behind.

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