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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-07-06 Daily Xml
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Mobile Black Spot Program

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:33): I arise to follow up from a question I asked today in question time regarding mobile phone towers with a brief contribution to this chamber about the importance of digital connectivity around our electorate and around our community. There is absolutely no doubt, as everyone in this chamber would be well aware, that it is becoming increasingly important that our communities and our businesses are capable of connecting to one another over the airwaves, with the majority of houses now sans landline and the majority of business now done on the internet.

That is not just bricks-and-mortar businesses; it is our farming businesses and businesses like food trucks that get around and serve those wonderful community events and the markets we have in communities up and down the peninsula. The majority of our business in our electorate is now being done online, and it is becoming increasingly important that we have access to phone towers and digital connectivity to ensure that that business can take place.

Another factor that is well worth considering when discussing digital connectivity is the access that we need in the case of emergency, in case of bushfire, in case of grassfire or any other emergency that might well take place. I can imagine that there would be nothing more scary than a bushfire bearing down on your home or property and not having a single phone bar to call for emergency services or assistance. There is a whole plethora of reasons that we need to continue to invest in digital connectivity, including those two I have just mentioned.

Unfortunately, on Yorke Peninsula, in my electorate, we have quite a few different blackspots around the electorate that could do with an upgrade or an increase in their access to this vital service. We have advocated for a great many including but not limited to the Melton community on Arthurton Road, Winulta, Dowlingville and Nalyappa Road. We have done our best to get a new phone tower put just south of Broughton at Youngs Road to service those homes and communities, including Bute, Ninnes, Kulpara and Willamulka.

Such has been the explosion of tourism that has started visiting what used to be known as Innes National Park (I am sorry I cannot say the full name because I am not particularly good at the pronunciation) that it is very important we find a way to improve phone service in that part of the electorate. It would also service the Marion Bay community that I have had the great pleasure of working quite closely with to try to improve their service. That community would love to see that tower moved, shifted or raised to make sure that it can provide a greater level of service to a far bigger surface area. With 130,000 visitors per year to Innes National Park, it certainly would be an investment well made.

There is also the Urania community, Point Souttar and others. The wonderful old Urania Uniting Church just sold recently, so a new venture will be moving in there, and I am sure they could well do with a phone service in their kitchen or living room. I want to make particular mention of the Tickera community, the subject of my question. I have had the great pleasure of working with Janet Sexton and Chris on a number of occasions to try to figure out a way that we can get a phone tower for Tickera.

I was pleased to organise a meeting with Telstra, the council and the federal member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey, relatively recently. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend because the government was in caretaker mode, but I am led to believe that it went quite well, with Telstra accepting that it is a blackspot and worthy of being funded and improved. Now the battle shifts to try to secure that funding to make sure we can get that tower built and the Tickera community can finally have some better phone service. I look forward to taking up that fight on behalf of that community to ensure that they have the services they require.

Unfortunately, over the last few years we have not had a great deal of success in Narungga. Over the last three rounds of the blackspot program, I do not believe, as far as I can tell, that we have had a single phone tower committed to our electorate. That problem was perhaps articulated when I posed that question in question time and we had a list of 11 towers that were still being built or in the process of being built, none of which were in the seat of Narungga.

In this chamber, I give a commitment to the people of my electorate that I will continue to fight to try to get some towers built in some of those towns I have mentioned and for some of those communities that are missing out, and hopefully we have better luck in the rounds that are coming up. It was pleasing to hear the minister commit to making it part of the budget process and consider funding it going forward. Hopefully, it gets favourable consideration as part of the budget in the coming months and years and we can get some phone towers built in Narungga.

It is a really important issue and one that I am keen to go into bat for constituents on, and I look forward, hopefully, to better results in the future.

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