Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to talk about how important the Mobile Black Spot Program has been. It is part and parcel of living in the 21st century that you must be able to pull a phone out of your pocket to contact help, to contact support, to call for more fuel on the farm or to call for repairs. I'm very proud that, in our area of New England, we have 37 new and upgraded mobile phone towers. When you go through the list, you get an understanding of how important this is, especially for the towns that have been left out. They are towns that live on the periphery of the everyday, towns such as Balala, between Uralla and Kingstown; Bonshaw; Drake; Dungowan; Hillgrove; Kings Plains; Rocky Creek; Urbenville; Walcha Road, which will be opening up in the next couple of days and is near where I grew up; Woolomin; Attunga; and Barraba. These are all incredibly important. We've been trying for a mobile phone tower for so long at Copeton Dam, where over 80,000 people go during the summer. We didn't have mobile phone reception, so if someone fell out of a boat or drowned or had any of those issues, there was no capacity for us to call for help. Now we're getting mobile phone towers going into Copeton Dam as well as Fig Tree Hill, which is also near Copeton Dam. It will give safe and secure coverage of that dam—so vitally important.

Senator Bridget McKenzie has announced the next round of this mobile phone upgrade, and this is also vitally important for towns that still need to be upgraded, such as Upper Horton. At Upper Horton, they have a rodeo on New Year's Eve, and, of course, they don't have mobile phone coverage, so if something goes wrong, how do they actually contact people? I'm really proud of the work that this government has done—the National Party and Liberal Party coalition—in providing money, through our time in government, for mobile phone coverage. It is one of the things that is so evident and that comes into your office. In country areas people say: 'What do I want? I need mobile phone coverage.' The market was unable to provide that and so there had to be a subsidy from the government to get these mobile phone towers built.

I was up in western Queensland the other day, and the fact that, under this government, there is now optic fibre that goes from Longreach right through to Birdsville has allowed that backhaul capacity for mobile phone towers in places such as Bedourie and Birdsville itself. You think, 'Why do you need a mobile phone tower at Birdsville?' When the Birdsville Races are on, over 5,000 people descend on that town, and for the rest of the year over 50,000 head of cattle go in the other direction, which means you have a lot of road trains. What happens when a road train breaks down or blows a tyre or has to turn around or has to pick up another load? This can cost thousands and thousands of dollars if we don't get it right, and mobile phone coverage is absolutely essential.

We have to drive ahead with this mobile phone package. A little village like Weabonga or other areas, such as the dropout spots between Mullaley and Gunnedah, all want to be able to arrive in the 21st century like the rest of the world has. It is amazing that people head up into the Himalayas and up Mount Everest and can get mobile phone coverage. They get mobile phone coverage most of the way. So if they can do it in Nepal, I think we can do it here. It is a vital segment of what a modern economy has to do. It has to go hand in glove with backhaul capacity—your backhaul capacity of optic fibre—so that, on your main lines, these mobile phones can be incorporated.

Of the 37 towers, we've had 27 installed and we have 10 to go. I'm looking forward to driving that forward. One that is very special to me—and I'm looking forward to actually being part of it—is the opening of the Walcha Road mobile phone tower. This was able to be constructed in conjunction with the bushfire services' radio reception. It basically allows people in that area to get coverage. It is so important that it can reach back up towards Woolomin and reach down towards Woolbrook. It shows that the government is not distant in Canberra; it is real and has capacity to deliver a better outcome and a better standard of living.

I commend the Mobile Black Spot Program, and I look forward to the next round. I'll be lobbying hard for even further delivery for my electorate, as I'm sure every member will be for theirs.

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