Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (17:15): I rise today to support the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation) Bill 2025 and to applaud the Albanese Labor government's commitment to strengthening the resilience of Australia's telecommunications service.
The Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation will require national mobile carriers Telstra, Optus and TPG to provide access to SMS and voice coverage for Australians nationwide, almost everywhere you can see the sky.
This is really important reform that will improve connectivity and provide reassurance for people in regional areas like my electorate of Gilmore. Gilmore is a big electorate. A few times a week I drive up and down the highway, sometimes for up to four hours, from one end to the other. Driving through mountains, forests and farmland, I pass through numerous mobile blackspots, so I know just how frustrating it can be when service is interrupted.
The Albanese government is getting on and doing something about it. Mobile phone coverage is a huge issue in many pockets of Gilmore, so I'm really excited that we're working to keep people in my region and those living right around the country better connected.
The UOMO will keep people in Gilmore connected and safer by ensuring they are able to call for help in times of emergency. New technology means low-Earth-orbit satellite signals can now connect directly to people's mobile phones rather than relying on land based infrastructure like mobile towers.
This is great news for people living in remote and isolated areas. Mobile phone blackspots are of particular concern to people living on the New South Wales South Coast, who have been hit with natural disaster after natural disaster. After being left in the dark too many times, they want to be confident that they can call for help during their time of need. They need to know they can call or text if they are involved in, or come across, an accident on the Princes Highway or on one of our many rural roads. Knowing they can connect if they can see the sky will provide some reassurance for Gilmore residents.
On 31 December 2019, the Black Summer bushfires wiped out 90 homes in Conjola Park, just one of many towns and villages in my area impacted by the firestorm. Residents were given little time to flee, and many were left standing in the streets in total darkness, enveloped by thick black smoke with embers raining down on them.
People drove their cars into the lake and ran into the water to take shelter from the flames that roared to the sand, then leapt over them to the opposite side of the lake, where the blaze tore through more homes. It was horrendous, and people were cut off, with no way of contacting family members, friends, neighbours and, importantly, emergency services.
After being turned around at the Princes Highway, one mother drove her car, with crying children in the back seat, from Conjola Park, back through walls of flames on either side of the road, as she sought shelter at the nearby Conjola Beach. When comms went down, she lost contact with her husband, who stayed home to fight the flames, and joined hundreds of other frightened locals, their pets and holidaymakers in the dark on New Year's Eve.
People lost their lives, their homes, their sheds, their livestock and their communities. They lost confidence in the communication system which went down for days, isolating them from their loved ones and from the help they so desperately needed. These people are still recovering. Many have rebuilt more resilient homes. Others have never returned. They relive the nightmares of this catastrophic event over and over, and they fear what the future might hold as climate change presents a very real chance of similar events playing out again in our region.
Almost immediately after the Black Summer fires, significant floods hit the South Coast, followed by a series of ferocious storms, again highlighting the need for an effective and resilient communications system.
Summer on the coast is very busy as tourists flock to the region to swim at our beaches and lakes, to rock fish, to waterski and to surf. They take their boats out to sea, ride mountain bikes and bushwalk in our beautiful forests and national parks.
But, unfortunately, not all holidays go to plan, and accidents frequently happen. Our volunteer surf lifesavers do a magnificent job of keeping people safe on our beaches, but far too often people lose their lives when they're caught in rips while swimming at isolated beaches. When someone is in trouble and needs to call for help at our beaches or on our waterways, they deserve the certainty that their call will connect.
Our Marine Rescue NSW volunteers also do an incredible job of keeping boaters safe on our ocean and waterways all year round but particularly during those busy summer months. They are called upon to help sinking vessels, pull ailing boaters from the water, search for rock fishers and tow boats to safety. When injured boaties or lost bushwalkers need help, they must be assured their calls will be answered.
Our roads and highways are jam-packed over the school holidays as families flock to enjoy everything our magnificent South Coast has to offer. But, when they come from the city to the regions, they should be confident that they can call emergency services in their time of need and their call for help will be answered. Whether it's a bushfire, a flood, someone in trouble at the beach, a sinking boat, a motor vehicle accident or a health emergency, Australians cannot be let down.
We must restore Australia's confidence in our national telecommunications service, and we must continue to boost the resilience of our telecommunications network.
This bill complements the great work the Albanese Labor government is doing to improve the resilience of telecommunications networks in regional areas like mine, especially during times of natural disasters. The Telecommunications Disaster Resilience Innovation Program has accelerated the development and deployment of new solutions to address communications issues and improve the resilience and availability of telecommunications during disasters.
This includes new or enhanced satellite connectivity and new ways to monitor networks and share critical information with emergency services.
Reliable communications are vital in emergencies and natural disasters to ensure Australians can call for help, receive emergency information and stay in touch with family and friends. Access to telecommunications coverage during a natural disaster can be the difference between life and death.
During the 2019-2020 bushfires, we lost essential emergency communications when the remote Mount Wandera transmission station in the Eurobodalla was burnt to the ground. Right now, work is being carried out at the Mount Wandera station to improve its bushfire resilience under tranche 1 of the Protecting Our Communities (Disaster Resilience) Program.
The project has included an infrastructure upgrade, improved asset protection zones and road resilience works on the access road. Timber power poles have been replaced with composite poles to help fireproof the power and ensure essential emergency information for emergency workers and the community can continue during bushfires. Composite power poles have also been erected along the length of Durras Road, ensuring the coastal village remains connected during emergencies.
It's really great to see Telstra and the government working together to share the cost in bringing new coverage to regional and rural locations like Gilmore. Two new Telstra mobile base stations will soon be switched on at Jamberoo and Worrigee, providing improved mobile coverage and connectivity for locals and visitors.
The infrastructure was built by Telstra as part of the Mobile Blackspot Program's Improving Mobile Coverage Round, with funding provided by Telstra and the Albanese Labor government. It means local residents and visitors will be able to access more reliable phone coverage, and it's also really important for local businesses that I know have been struggling with connection issues for years.
I've worked hard to improve mobile coverage in our region, and I'm thrilled to be delivering for local communities like Jamberoo and Worrigee. We're partnering with Telstra to fund the construction or upgrade of 168 sites across 147 different telecommunications projects across Australia, from transmission, coverage and capacity upgrades to the construction of new macro or small-cell mobile base stations in blackspot areas.
Our better connectivity plan is delivering significant investments to improve mobile and broadband connectivity in regional Australia through the Regional Connectivity Program, Mobile Black Spot Program and On Farm Connectivity Program.
We are committed to reducing the digital divide and meeting the country's growing demand for data and seamless connectivity. We're working to improve regional coverage and communications resilience on so many levels because we know how important it is to stay connected, especially in regional areas like the south coast.
The UOMO legislation is a key part of the government's response to the 2024 Regional Telecommunications Review. The implementation of the service will be an important step towards modernising Australia's universal service arrangements to guarantee we all have access to essential telecommunications services.
Our significant NBN upgrades and investment in programs like the Mobile Black Spot Program and Mobile Network Hardening Program will further expand mobile coverage, resilience and capacity. This government has provided access to faster and more reliable broadband for 1.5 million premises across Australia, including 660,000 in rural and regional communities like mine.
Labor created the NBN and only Labor is delivering the NBN and keeping it in public ownership. Under the Liberals, my community was left behind. I'll go back to the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires again because it was such an extremely significant event in my community when communication was paramount. When the power went out and phones went down, some homes in villages such as North Nowra were on Labor's fibre to the premises and therefore had access to battery systems, allowing them to stay connected.
Other communities in the electorate, however, weren't so lucky. Thanks to the previous government, they were on fibre-to-the-node NBN and therefore were left in the dark, with no access to internet or phone services during the fire emergency. Labor's fibre to the premises is the only NBN technology that allows for a battery to be installed at the property so when the power goes out the household still has access to some internet and phone services for a few hours.
Thank goodness the Albanese Labor government is committed to continuing fibre-to-the-premises upgrades in Gilmore.
This bill will bolster that plan and reiterate Labor's commitment to strengthening the resilience of our nation's telecommunications services. It will ensure that in our hour of need we can make that life-saving call. Improved connectivity not only keeps people connected but means safer roads, stronger businesses and better access to services.
Whether you're facing a natural disaster, broken down on a highway, injured on the farm or lost in the bush, under UOMO there will be outdoor mobile coverage nearly anywhere you look up and see the sky. This reform is not about replacing traditional mobile coverage. It is about expanding coverage to areas where, despite significant industry and government co-investment, it has not been feasible to provide coverage.
Direct to device or D2D is an emerging technology and is still being rolled out in Australia and around the world. However, we are legislating now to ensure this critical technology is deployed as widely and quickly as possible to ensure Australians can benefit no matter where they live, work or travel.
Given the emerging nature of D2D technology, this bill sets a default date for the commencement of the UOMO on 1 December 2027 but allows flexibility to adjust the date to accommodate market readiness. It will provide a clear signal to the market of the importance of equitable and accessible outdoor mobile coverage and that it is a government priority that services are available as soon as possible.
We aren't sitting around waiting for this issue to fix itself. We are acting early to ensure that Australia is at the forefront of technology. This legislation brings mobile services into the longstanding universal services regime, which previously only covered legacy copper based voice services.
By doing so, we are also creating a framework that can protect consumers and ensure mobile services if industry does not deliver in the national interest. The UOMO is a critical part of the government's comprehensive work to reduce the digital divide, increase productivity, support economic growth and meet Australia's growing demand for data and connectivity.
