Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you're sitting in an office on Collins Street or Macquarie Street, you never worry about your mobile phone dropping out. But, if your office is a tractor in Tallangatta or a shearing shed in Ruffy, the story is very different. This government is failing regional Australians when it comes to phone and internet coverage, hobbling our ability to run businesses and keep up with global competition.

I want to thank Rob Jamieson from Ruffy for giving me this list of what a modern-day farmer needs good phone and internet coverage for. Banking is moving online. Tax requirements, including bank statements and payroll, are online. So are fulfilling regulatory requirements like biosecurity, national livestock identification certificates, buying and selling of stock, agricultural census requirements, remote monitoring of irrigation, water tanks, lightning trackers, equipment, research, maintenance, security monitoring, data analytics to track yields, the spraying of fertiliser, drones to monitor fencing and livestock and, of course, emergency communications in firestorms and floods. The list goes on.

Farming in Australia is a high-tech industry, but this government provides farmers with phone and internet coverage from the Dark Ages. I am committed to improving phone and internet technology for the people of Indi, and I won't stop pressuring this government to show up for farmers, residents and all small businesses that deserve the tools that they need to live and thrive in the 21st century.