Reliable communications can be the difference between safety and tragedy in a natural disaster. Whether it's bushfire, flood or severe storm, Australians do need to be able to receive emergency warnings, contact loved ones, access information and, when necessary, call for help. That's why the introduction of the temporary disaster roaming as of 1 October is such an important development for rural, regional and remote communities like the rural area of my electorate and the western Wheatbelt in the Perth Hills. Temporary disaster roaming is designed to keep Australians connected when disaster strikes. In practical terms, it means that, if a community has both a Telstra and an Optus tower and one network is disabled during a bushfire or other disaster, customers may be able to roam on the remaining network for voice calls, text messages and basic data servicing. That means people can continue to communicate with their families, check emergency information and be informed during a disaster.

Importantly, temporary disaster roaming is not limited to triple zero access. It's about helping people maintain essential communications during what can be an incredibly stressful and uncertain time. But, of course, as the motion recognises, temporary disaster roaming is not a silver bullet. We have a very complicated communications system. This program can only operate when another mobile network remains available and has sufficient capacity. There will continue to be communities across regional, rural and remote Australia that rely on one single network provider, and if that network fails the temporary disaster roaming cannot provide an alternative connection. The reality is that this highlights a broader challenge before us: building a telecommunications network that is resilient enough to withstand increasingly severe natural disasters.

The good news is that the temporary disaster roaming is only one part of a broader effort to improve resilience—a broader package of reforms and investments that's already underway. The government has committed $14 million through the Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters, STAND, program. The program supports satellite wi-fi services at emergency evacuation centres and emergency coordination points. We've also invested $50.3 million on the Mobile Network Hardening Program, which is focused on improving the resilience of telecommunication infrastructure so networks are better able to withstand extreme weather events. I know this all too well with the bushfires in the Perth Hills and the regional areas of Bullwinkel. These measures sit within a larger framework of a $1 billion pipeline of regional telecommunications investment to deliver new towers, improve back-up power systems and increase the network capacity of those towers across regional Australia.

Building resilience takes a coordinated effort across different services and agencies so that we can provide more layers of protection, better coverage, stronger towers, reliable power, satellite capacity and network redundancy. These reforms matter. The Albanese government is continuing to improved fixed-line communications, committing to completing the rollout of the remaining fibre-to-the-node upgrades and new satellite broadband arrangements that will be particularly important for regional and remote areas.

Just recently, parliament also passed legislation establishing the universal outdoor mobile obligation, and this important reform requires mobile network operators to provide baseline outdoor voice and text coverage across Australia and provides powers to establish service standards around real liability and fault rectification. All Australians should have access to critical communications, whether they live in a capital city or in the regional areas. Public safety, we agree, should not be determined by postcode.

Australians want to know when the systems they rely on will be there when they need them. Temporary disaster roaming is a valuable new tool and a step forward into a more resilient network. It won't work everywhere, and it will not solve every problem, but it can be deployed, and it has the potential to keep communities connected at the times when they need it the most. We all agree that Australians—and our objective, really—should not be left without access to critical communications during an emergency just because of where they live.