Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On at least three occasions this year, residents in the Tasmanian town of Ouse and surrounding areas have lost mobile and landline reception. What is most concerning in these incidents is that the Central Highlands region also loses the ability to call and access triple 0. As our reliance on digital connectivity grows, the issue of unreliable mobile phone coverage has become more apparent across Tasmania, particularly in the communities of Ouse and Miena and in other areas, such as Triabunna, on the Tasman peninsula. This is not simply about convenience. It can, as was tragically made apparent during the recent Optus triple 0 outage, become life threatening. While that has not happened in Tasmania—yet—it's something that could occur without immediate government intervention.

At a meeting of over 200 residents in Miena on Saturday, we heard from police and emergency service personnel, local business representatives and local residents about their fears that there will be a fatality in the region before any action is taken to improve telecommunication services. During the election, Lyons Liberal candidate Susie Bower campaigned strongly and secured a funding commitment for three new towers. Disappointingly, Labor's candidate and now our federal member for Lyons, Rebecca White, failed to match the pledge or make any election commitments that would specifically improve digital connectivity or phone coverage in Lyons. That is—