Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Residents in Bowen Mountain have spent nearly a month without a landline or internet connection thanks to a Telstra cable being cut. Their situation was more dire because this is one big mobile black spot. People have had to work from cars on the side of the road to get a bar of signal, kids have missed out on video classes and study for the HSC or uni assignments was near impossible. Those with medical conditions couldn't do online shopping, missed telehealth appointments and were anxious without any form of reliable communication.

This is an area still not connected to the NBN. No, the rollout is not complete, and residents were the victims of a degraded copper network, pits that hadn't been looked at for 30 years and the failure of Telstra to have on tap the equipment for a speedy repair. So Bowen Mountain waited: at first patiently then not so patiently, and nor should they. They're suffering 19th century technology in the 21st century, and it should not have been their only form of communication.

Bowen Mountain was evacuated twice in the last fires and came close to bearing the brunt of the fire. So while nearly everyone's back online, and ironically the NBN has come online for some before their ADSL connection returned, there's still a massive vulnerability for this community and so many others until the government shows some real determination to fix mobile black spots.