It’s been a long wait but Federal Member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman, has celebrated a victory in the long-fought battle for better mobile coverage with the Yellow Rock community, with the switching-on of the new Telstra mobile tower.

The tower, funded under the Mobile Black Spot Program, finally went live after a five-year wait on Wednesday, October 20.

“This tower has been a long-awaited piece of infrastructure for the community of Yellow Rock, and I am delighted it’s now operational,” Ms Templeman said.

“Labor made a commitment to build this tower way back in 2016, when we were announcing our intention to give priority to under-serviced regional areas of NSW by improving delivery of the Mobile Black Spot program.

“It has been a long five years for the community, particularly because this area knows all too well how dangerous a lack of communication can be during natural disasters.

“No one needs reminding about how affected the Yellow Rock community was by the 2013 bushfires, and poor mobile coverage can turn a dangerous situation deadly.

“We know better communication helps save lives.

“What this process does show is how fraught the Mobile Black Spot Funding Program is.

“While Yellow Rock waited five years for its tower to be approved, constructed and operational, Mount Tomah residents are still waiting for the tower they were promised under the program in 2015.

“The Federal and NSW Liberal Governments cruelly reneged on that three years later, moving it to the NSW Central West, and the community has been left waiting ever since. 

“And when the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires swept through, Mount Tomah and surrounds had no reliable communication system to rely upon.   

“I am proud to have stood by the community of Yellow Rock to continue pressuring the government to deliver on this tower for so many years, and I will continue to take the fight up on behalf of other areas like Mount Tomah. 

“All of the Blue Mountains residents deserve reliable communications.”