George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly do not object. I rise to bring a voice to this place in the form of a petition that has not gone through the Petitions Committee. I seek leave to present it as a document.

Leave granted.

The petition is from Alligator Creek, just south of Townsville in North Queensland. It is a small but growing community set amongst the foothills, where people enjoy a little bit of extra space. They have a very tight-knit community because they share a great lifestyle and they share common problems. One of the problems is mobile phone coverage, or rather lack thereof. In the world we live in today, mobile phone coverage has become one of the basic services we rely on. For anyone in business, it is a service that can be very difficult to live without. I know there are many home based businesses in Alligator Creek. People that are running those businesses cannot give out their mobile phone numbers, because there is an expectation, when you have a mobile phone number in a business, that it is going to be answered immediately or that messages will be responded to soon after the call. They cannot do that with no mobile phone coverage in that area.

Alligator Creek is beside the Bruce Highway. We know the importance of being to access mobile phone coverage during emergencies such as an accident on the highway. Alligator Creek is also beside Bowling Green Bay National Park. It is a popular recreation spot for Townsville and tourists as well. However, there is no mobile phone coverage there, which leaves people isolated in times of need. Sadly, about five years ago a young 17-year-old girl, Che-Nezce Perrie Shepherd, died at Bowling Green Bay National Park when her leg became trapped between rocks as the floodwaters rose at that time. Because no-one could phone for help, they had to go and try to get help. It was too late for poor Che-Nezce. It really is needed.

When the last mobile phone black spot campaign was there, I got the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Communications down to visit Alligator Creek and have a forum on the issue of mobile phones. Half the town turned out for that meeting and the minister got a good understanding of the problem. I nominated Alligator Creek as a top priority under that funding program. The sad thing was that the network providers had a different set of priorities. Even though the local Telstra Country Wide office had listed it as a top priority, the boffins down in Sydney had a different view and we have missed out. North Queenslanders never give up, a lesson learned in the NRL grand final this year. I will be strongly advocating for Alligator Creek in the second round of the Mobile Black Spot Program. Residents have filled in that petition and we will be making sure that they get that funding for that mobile phone tower in that area.

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