Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Fixing the mobile phone blackspots on the New South Wales South Coast is a critical issue for people in the Gilmore electorate. I am inundated by people contacting my office about intermittent, poor or downright no mobile phone coverage. Mobile phone blackspots along our highways have been putting lives at risk for just way too long.

I spoke previously in this place about the Black Summer bushfires, when literally hundreds and hundreds of cars were stranded within blackspot areas with no means of communication. Imagine the dread: a life-threatening situation, the family needs to know that everything is okay and you grab your phone, only to find zero bars of reception. Even text messages just sit there. Equally, with communications from agencies like the Rural Fire Service, their crucial up-to-the-minute advice is dependent entirely on the quality of your mobile reception.

The bushfires showed us that telecommunications are paramount, not only for people's safety but for their peace of mind about loved ones. Now, with the pandemic and so many people working or learning from home, it's more critical than ever that we have mobile phone coverage consistent with the demands of today. That's why I'm conducting a local mobile phone blackspot survey, because there's no specific government report to determine exactly where the multitude of mobile phone blackspots in the Gilmore electorate are.

I'll achieve this by identifying individual cases and helping, where possible, by studying the patterns and then working with telecommunications providers on the plan to fix them. Right now, we're in the data-collection phase and my constituents are responding eagerly. Terri, at Kiama, commented within the survey: 'We all pay enough for our telecommunications that they should be perfect, but I can never contact my friend when she is at home in Jamberoo. There's just no reception.'

Kate, from Wattamolla, is a wildlife rescuer with WIRES. They utilise a text based messaging system to find available volunteers for rescue jobs. Through the survey, Kate has explained to me that she receives urgent text messages five days after they're sent. And, adding emphasis to how contemporary challenges demand excellence through these changing times, several survey entries reported streaming issues from the Shoalhaven Crematorium chapel. The bereaved, unable to attend because of COVID restrictions, experience frustration personified because they simply cannot participate in the moment.

Government money to tackle mobile phone blackspots doesn't always go to the most-deserving places. The reasoning? Determining the location for where a mobile blackspot tower will be positioned is based on the amount of population coverage it will achieve. However, this doesn't factor in the almost countless hamlets, small towns and villages across Gilmore that see population numbers triple and even quadruple during seasonal times: visit Berry on any Sunday, or Shoalhaven Heads or St Georges Basin over a long weekend, or Bawley Point and Kioloa over Christmas time. The welcome influx of visiting families brings more than just congestion on our roads: data congestion is a whole new beast. The fact is that the network is quickly overloaded. Too many people—or, more accurately, too many devices—are accessing what is limited bandwidth. Data transfer becomes very slow and phone calls drop out or do not even connect.

Access to 21st-century communications is an essential service for all Australians, no matter where they live and no matter the time of year. If done properly, it should boost competition in mobile communications, leading to the availability of cheaper and higher-quality services—a win-win. This infrastructure spend is an investment, a commitment to helping regional residents and businesses stay connected and boosting local jobs.

The Tyranny of Distance, the 1966 history work by Professor Geoffrey Blayney, examines how geographical remoteness has been a constant in shaping Australia's history. Fifty-five years on, the tyranny of distance must never be a justification for regional, rural and remote Australians identifying with being unsure of their economic prosperity simply because, technologically speaking, they cannot connect. A mobile signal is something that should be relied upon and not a menacing, random wall of luck.