Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I still remember my first mobile phone, which I got back in 2002. It was the Nokia 5510. It was pretty great. It had a full Qwerty keyboard, a calculator, a stopwatch and, for the first time in a phone, a built-in MP3 player which held a whopping 11 songs, about a third of which were by Christina Aguilera on my phone.

Back in the early 2000s, coverage could be patchy. For me, as I was only really using my phone to let my mum know where I was and to play Snake, that wasn't a huge deal. Fast-forward over 20 years and mobile phones look a lot different. When I got my Nokia 5510, I wouldn't have been able to imagine reading the news on it. I wouldn't have been able to imagine ordering stuff online or getting directions or accessing social media. These days we can take photos or videos and share them instantaneously with friends across the globe.

One thing hasn't changed though. The core purpose of a mobile phone is to be able to make and receive calls, and that is the essence of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025 before us here today. The bill has a simple premise. It's about keeping Australians connected. The Albanese government recognises that reliable mobile connectivity is essential for modern life and wants every Australian to have access to baseline mobile voice and text services right across this country. Connectivity is important. It's key to preventing social isolation, it's key to delivering modern health care and it's key to keeping our economy moving.

We need our telecommunications services to be reliable because we depend on them every single day for so many reasons. These might be to keep in contact with friends and family or for running your own small business. Above all, we need them, crucially, to reach emergency services when something goes wrong. Despite these needs, traditional mobile networks currently reach only about one third of Australia's vast land mass. There is coverage in the areas where approximately 99 per cent of Australians live and work, but in large parts of regional, remote and rural Australia you can't make a triple zero call through standard mobile services. Labor has listened to the communities of regional, remote and rural Australia, and these communities have been very clear about the consequences that these gaps in coverage leave during emergencies.

Ensuring fairer access to essential mobile voice and text services across the country is a priority for this government. As I said, it's simple. Every Australian, regardless of where they live, should have access to a basic level of mobile connectivity. This is why Labor is introducing the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation. This initiative will deliver foundational outdoor coverage designed to improve public safety and extend the reach of emergency communications. With the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation, Australians will be able to access outdoor mobile connectivity in almost any location.

For the technical part, the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation laws will require mobile network operators Telstra, TPG and Optus to provide universal baseline outdoor mobile coverage wherever it's reasonably possible. To do this, mobile network operators will have to use a combination of their existing mobile networks, such as mobile towers and new direct-to-device satellite technology from low-Earth-orbit satellites. Telecommunications companies will use their existing mobile towers which enable the regular network we all use daily and technology that enables normal mobile phones to connect directly to satellites. What that means is that, if a mobile tower can't reach you, a satellite will pick up the signal instead. This bill also updates existing universal service rules, which used to only cover copper landline voice services.

Labor is modernising the framework by bringing mobile services on board, by protecting consumers and by ensuring that government can step in if the industry doesn't deliver what this country needs. So how does it all work? The answer is on your existing phone. You don't need a satellite phone. You don't need heavy equipment. Direct-to-device is engineered so that normal, everyday smartphones can connect to satellites in the same way that these phones connect to mobile towers now. If you're in an area with mobile coverage, your phone will use the usual mobile tower network. But, if you're in a remote area with no towers, your phone will automatically switch and connect to a satellite overhead. You won't even know it's happening. That's important because, in an emergency, when you need it, making sure that you're not having to think about technology is key. You only need to be able to get through. You might be exploring a distant national park. You might be enjoying a day offshore, hiking up a mountain or simply driving home along a remote road. With this technology, you will have full mobile coverage.

The low-Earth-orbit satellites are close and they're fast-moving. They can pick up mobile signals from standard phones, provide stronger connections than older, faraway satellites and, ultimately, give more reliable coverage in remote areas. Another way of thinking about low Earth orbit satellites is that they are back-up coverage. They're the safety net for Australians when they need it the most. That's what this legislation is about.

This legislation and this emerging technology is combining to be a game changer in rural, regional and remote Australia. It will fill the gaps where mobile towers have never been viable because of distance, geography or cost. It will give people a level of certainty and safety that simply hasn't been possible before. Remote communities will get that reliable baseline connectivity, helping to address the digital inequality between cities and the bush. It will remove the black spots that have a negative impact on businesses, on day-to-day life and on the safety of Australians.

We're all familiar with stories of travellers stranded for days alongside their car in the outback, sometimes with tragic outcomes. The Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation will enable quicker locating and rescue in these situations where minutes matter and getting through is important. It will help when there is an emergency such as a bushfire or a flood, with SES, fire crews and volunteers being able to stay connected and offer assistance more quickly. We're all familiar with extreme weather or natural disasters like storms, cyclones and bushfires bringing down mobile towers. This will act as a safety net for those occasions too. This technology will be the important backup when that occurs, enabling people to continue to receive warnings, to seek help and to contact their families. So you can see it's not just about convenience; it is far more critical than that. It's not an exaggeration to say that, in some cases, the universal outdoor mobile obligation will be the difference between life and death. It will also help with the day-to-day business in areas which previously had no coverage. Think of how much more easily workers on remote properties will be able to stay connected, enabling more efficient and, importantly, safer workplaces. For those Australians who travel long distances, such as truck drivers and tourists, there will be fewer dead zones along highways and better access to roadside assistance.

Now, this direct-to-device satellite technology is still being implemented out around the world, but Labor is pushing ahead with this legislation now because it's crucial for Australians in regional and remote areas and because we want to ensure this vital technology is rolled out as broadly and as soon as possible. The bill introduces a default start date for the new universal obligations of 1 December 2027. The bill also allows for flexibility to alter this according to how quickly the technology develops and how ready the market is. This timeline sends a clear message to mobile network operators. It tells them that we're serious about ensuring better, fairer and safer mobile coverage for all Australians. This bill is part of the government's response to the 2024 Regional Telecommunications Review, the MacTiernan review, and it is the continuation of Labor's commitment to reducing the digital divide. Improving this will support economic growth and increase productivity while meeting the needs for more seamless connectivity across our massive landmass.

The better connectivity plan is delivering more than $1.1 billion in improvements for rural and regional communities. This investment forms part of the government's overall commitment of more than $2.2 billion to strengthen communications infrastructure across regional Queensland. As part of the plan, the government allocated $656 million in the October 2022-23 budget over five years to enhance mobile and broadband services and to build greater network resilience in regional and remote areas. A total of $400 million was directed to expand multicarrier mobile coverage along regional roads, to improve service in underserved regional and remote communities and to strengthen the reliability of communications network and public safety infrastructure. This included support for the Telecommunications Disaster Resilience Innovation program. It included support for the Mobile Black Spot Program, the Mobile Network Hardening Program and the Regional Roads Australia Mobile Program. The plan also provides $200 million for two further rounds of the Regional Connectivity Program, which delivers locally tailored digital infrastructure projects to support regional communities' specific circumstances and needs. An additional $30 million has been allocated to improve on-farm connectivity, enabling farmers to adopt and benefit from connected machinery, smart sensors and advanced agricultural technologies. Other initiatives already underway include major government funding to upgrade the NBN and expand its fixed wireless network and $68 million in a package of measures to support First Nations digital inclusion.

This bill is about so many different things. At its core, it is about connectivity and making sure that that stopgap is there so that every Australian can get connected to who they need to wherever they are in this country. When we talk about the impact of that—it's big. It doesn't matter if you are a worker who's been injured on the job and is trying to call in to get assistance as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if you are living in a regional or remote area and you've had an accident and you need medical assistance as soon as possible. It doesn't matter if you're living somewhere where you need to be connected to family to avoid social isolation. And it doesn't matter if you're a bushwalker who needs immediate assistance to help you get back home. That is what this bill is all about. It's the safety net we need, it's the connectivity we deserve and it's about ensuring that all Australians have access.

As I've said, this bill reflects the Albanese Labor government's foundational belief that every Australian, regardless of where they live, should have access to a basic level of mobile connectivity. Whether someone is facing a natural disaster stuck on a country road, hurt while working on a property or lost in remote bushland, the universal outdoor mobile obligation bill is designed to make sure mobile services are there at the moments when it matters the most. For people in rural, regional and remote parts of Australia, leveraging direct-to-device satellite technology from low-Earth-orbit satellites will translate to greater safety. In modern Australia, this baseline requirement is critical.

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