Government Radio Network

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:49): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Emergency Services questions about the Government Radio Network and mobile phone towers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: With last night's statewide power blackouts, many South Australians were without, and some are still without, mobile and landline coverage. The Government Radio Network and mobile phone towers rely on battery backup which only lasts about eight hours. My questions to the minister are:

1. What is the government's plan to ensure both civilian and emergency services phone and radio communications are not compromised due to system failure, particularly when they have to wait for a long time?

2. Why has nothing been done to put in place a plan B, as evidenced by recent failures, to address communications errors and reduce public anxiety?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:50): I believe there were two components to the honourable member's question, some laden with innuendo and lack of fact more than others, but there were two components and I will deal with them in separate parts. The first one was in respect of landlines and mobile phone towers being in use. They are services that are delivered by private providers, following another round of privatisation by our political opponents at the federal level, but Telstra is the main service provider in respect of landlines and mobile phone towers.

I have been grateful for being in receipt of information from Telstra during the course of the morning, and as of 11.35am I was advised by Telstra that there were 145 mobile sites out of service, which is a number that is substantially down from an earlier figure of 381 which was reported to me during the course of the day.

Telstra are to be commended for their work thus far in trying to bring mobile service towers back online as they can, and I understand they are doing everything they reasonably can to be able to provide what is, in many respects, an essential service to so many South Australians. Telstra, like any other part of the community, provides significant services which are reliant upon substantial pieces of infrastructure which have been affected as a result of the extraordinary weather event that we have already discussed here this morning.

In respect of the South Australian Government Radio Network, I have already stated within my ministerial statement that the advice I have received is that the Government Radio Network has performed well throughout the course of this incident thus far and, just prior to walking into the chamber, I have been advised that the Government Radio Network was continuing to operate well, as planned, which is testament to the enormous amount of work and substantial investment that the government has put into the system over many years.