Yorke Peninsula Telecommunications

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:32): I rise to inform the house about telecommunications, an issue that is ever-increasing with the reliance on the internet and phones in our regional communities, pivotally the impending switch off of the 3G network that is coming, with regard to Telstra, in June of next year.

I know there is a bit of angst in the community about whether those people who rely almost solely on 3G will be covered by 4G when 3G is switched off, and I took the opportunity to meet with Michael Patterson, the regional general manager, last week to seek his assurance that there would be coverage for those people who need it. I have to say that I emerged from that meeting quite reassured.

The technical explanations offered to me at the meeting gave me a great deal of confidence that those people who are currently experiencing 3G only will have access to a 4G network from June next year, and it should be a wonderful addition to our regional network. Michael promised there would be no-one worse off, and my basic understanding of the technical explanation offered gave me hope there might even be improvements for some people. I look forward to next year when the 3G is turned off and seeing whether those promises ring true. Here's hoping they do, and that we have improved phone communication technology in our regional areas.

It was wonderful to meet with Michael, and at that meeting we had a quick discussion about some new towers that are planned for our electorate. There are new towers going up at Port Rickaby and at Wool Bay, and I know those communities will be especially thankful to have those facilities available.

It is a massive job trying to find complete coverage for our regional areas but, as I said, it is of ever-increasing importance. So much is reliant upon the Internet of Things these days that those towers will be much appreciated. In particular, as 3G gets turned off, and the technology for 4G is that much higher, it will be a tremendous addition.

Coincidently, at the same time, there is another tower planned for Edithburgh. I know that this probably came off the back of a community campaign that we launched a little while ago in that there were people on the front row of Edithburgh and around the outskirts of Edithburgh who could not quite get any phone services at all. Whether that was because they were in a dip and a bit below the tower, or for some other reason, there was no phone service for certain people who lived within Edithburgh. We pleaded with Telstra to try to improve that, and they have come to the party wonderfully and promised a brand-new tower for Edithburgh which should solve all those problems.

Unfortunately, after the consideration of some six spots as the best place for this new tower, they have settled on the existing exchange site where no tower currently exists, and they plan to build a 30-metre tower in the centre of town at that exchange site. Unfortunately, that has not gone over that well with some of the locals; they would like to see it on the outskirts of town or at least a bit away from the main thoroughfare of town and the main street where people walk down and shop and visit the pub, and that sort of stuff.

That plan is currently before the council in the development application process. I know that the mayor has his hesitations about it, so it will be interesting to see what position council forms, and whether they decide to oppose it. I really want to take this opportunity to urge Telstra to try to find that balance between the technical outcomes that we need to ensure that those people who have been without service manage to get it and the community sentiment so that they can continue to be proud of their beautiful town and not have this perceived monstrosity in the middle of it.

Thank you very much to Kylie Harris from Edithburgh who has been leading the charge in trying to find the better outcome for this situation. We look forward to working with Telstra to make sure that those people who need service get it, and also the town can remain proud of its main street. Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to urge the state government to resume its input into the funding of phone towers. It would make it a hell of a lot easier for us as local members to argue about the locations that are most needy if we had some input and some skin in the game, so I would urge the government to do that.

So many communities in my electorate still need an improved phone service. I think of Tickera, Corny Point and Urania, just to name a few; they would much benefit from a new tower. With regard to Tickera, especially, it would be wonderful to see Janet Sexton and Chris Knight rewarded for the advocacy that they have shown on behalf of the community and their tireless lobbying of me and other ministers to try to get a new phone tower there and improved service for that wonderful, growing tourism town.

There are so many holes in our phone coverage around the state in regional South Australia and, with the ever-increasing reliance upon phones and internet, we need to make sure that we are doing all we can to fill those gaps. I think that if the state government were able to chip in and have some control or input about where those towers will go it would be all the better.