Blue Mountains lives will continue to be put at risk after the Morrison Government once again overlooked the area for funding to fix mobile black spots, Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman has said.
Not one location in the Mountains received a cent to improve mobile coverage under the latest round of funding, despite the focus of this round allegedly being on bushfire-prone areas, Ms Templeman said.
“This announcement really is an insult to people living in areas like Mount Tomah, which lost so many homes in the devastating Black Summer bushfires,” Ms Templeman said.
“People who battled the bushfires have told me of the problems in organising crews during the crisis because they didn’t have mobile coverage, and other residents expressed concern for the wellbeing of elderly residents whose personal alarms only get weak signals.
“Keep in mind this is also the area that was promised a new mobile tower by the Federal Government, only to have it ripped away and plonked in the NSW Central West to shore up support for the Nationals in the lead-up to an election.
“This is more than just cynical politics. This is putting lives in danger.
“The need for a black spot solution at Mount Tomah is overwhelming, and I have worked closely with the Blue Mountains Rural Fire Service to put forward a solution. There is simply no mobile coverage for much of the area and along the Bells Line of Road.
“The bushfires also caused massive damage to the Telstra landline network, leaving many people without communication for a long time.
“This current round of funding (Round 5a) was allegedly more focused on bushfire-prone areas, or those with elevated natural disaster risk.
“You have to question, then, why the Blue Mountains area of the electorate of Macquarie received not one cent in funding, and why the bushfire and flood-prone area of the Hawkesbury received funding for just one location – Lower Macdonald.
“Both areas are prone to storms, lighting and floods. The electricity network, particularly in the Hawkesbury, is fragile and prone to outages in severe weather and bushfire impacts.”
Hundreds of residents responded to a survey of local mobile black spots conducted by Ms Templeman’s office last year, which also showed unreliable or non-existent mobile areas around some of the Mountains’ biggest towns.
“There were huge gaps in coverage stretching from the Lower to the Upper Mountains,” Ms Templeman said.
“Those who responded to the survey were overwhelmingly concerned with the implications of poor coverage in emergency situations like bushfires or illness.
“Mobile black spots are annoying to everyone every day, they interfere with people working and studying from home, but in a bushfire emergency – and, indeed, in a pandemic lockdown where people are working from home – it’s magnified.
“In addition, the transition to the NBN has increase dependency on services that require electricity. When the electricity network is down people lose their home phone and internet services. So apart from convenience and when not at home, people need a mobile network as a communication backup in times of disaster and in an emergency.
“I have previously written to the Communications Minister, Paul Fletcher, about this issue, and specifically about the need for funding under Round 5a in these priority areas.
“It’s now very apparent to me that the Liberal Party – from the Minister down – clearly has no interest in providing the residents of the Blue Mountains with the vital infrastructure we so desperately need.
“It certainly won’t be the last
