Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about a petition I have received from residents of the Mangrove Mountain area in relation to their telephone service. Residents of the Central Coast of New South Wales, where my electorate of Robertson is situated, are subject to Next G mobile phone service black spots. The residents of Mangrove Mountain, Spencer and the Lower Hawkesbury River Valley have been campaigning for more than a year for enhanced communication services, including more reliable and comprehensive mobile phone coverage. The campaign has been spearheaded by Mr Roy Cox, and he is the principal petitioner.

They are particularly concerned that the CDMA network, which presently services the area, is to be closed and that the Next G network is not satisfactory. This petition contains approximately 1,116 signatures of residents from the Mangrove Mountain region, which is located just half an hour west of Gosford, the main city in my electorate. It shows the depth of their concern about this issue, one which I have been working closely with the community to address. I have already been in correspondence with Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, on a number of occasions about this matter and I have also spoken to him personally.

In my meeting with the chief petitioner, Mr Roy Cox, in my electorate office on 28 February 2008, I assured Mr Cox of the minister’s determination that Telstra Next G must be enhanced to provide better or equivalent coverage than the service that was previously provided by the old CDMA network when it is switched off. In January 2008 the minister, acting on a report by ACMA, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, postponed Telstra’s plans to introduce Next G until at least 28 April 2008. By that date Telstra will advise of the progress of its strategies to achieve equivalence between the old and the new networks.

The petitioners took the minister’s advice that care must be taken with the selection of their handsets, but even the selection of more appropriate handsets has not remedied all the problems experienced by the residents in that area. The minister, I understand, has urged Telstra that its network of retail advisers should be kept fully aware of new developments and they should offer accurate and timely advice to those consumers that are experiencing problems.

I present the petition and I ask that the minister and Telstra ensure that the Next G network is of a satisfactory quality both for the residents of and for visitors to the area of Mangrove Mountain, Spencer and the Lower Hawkesbury River Valley.

The petition read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives assembled in Parliament.

The petition of residents and visitors, their families, friends and acquaintances, in the area of Mangrove Mountain, Greengrove, Lower Mangrove Creek, Popran Creek, Marlow, Wendoree Park, Spencer, Gunderman, Wisemans Ferry and the surrounding regions of the Lower Hawkesbury River/Mangrove Creek catchment areas within the Robertson electorate in NSW draws to the attention of the House that the quality of mobile telephone coverage in the areas abovementioned is currently grossly inadequate through the Next G network and will be further reduced or eliminated when the proposed January, 2008 shutdown of the CDMA mobile telephone network by Telstra takes effect, and that Telstra has advised that there are no current plans by Telstra to upgrade their Next G or any alternate mobile telephone coverage of the abovementioned areas.

Also, there is at present only one public telephone between Mangrove Mountain and Wisemans Ferry, a distance of approximately 50 kilometres, making dependence on a reliable mobile telephone network of even more importance. The vehicular transport links are popular, along winding, single lane roads which endure constant accidents and breakdowns, and the maritime traffic is constant, both especially so on weekends.

Your petitioners therefore request the House that it, through or by the appropriate (Telecommunications, Equal Rights and Opportunity, Health and Safety or related or relevant) Acts, to seek redress by Telstra to ensure an urgent upgrade to the mobile telephone service availability and reception in the Mangrove Creek/Lower Hawkesbury River catchment areas.

and we, the undersigned, as the residents and visitors, their families, friends and acquaintances, of Mangrove Mountain, Greengrove, Lower Mangrove, Popran Creek, Marlow, Wendoree Park, Spencer, Gunderman, Wisemans Ferry and the surrounding regions of the Lower Hawkesbury River/Mangrove Creek catchment areas request that Testra urgently upgrades the mobile telephone service availability and reception in the Mangrove Creek/Lower Hawkesbury River catchment areas for the necessary considerations of health and safety as well as equality and fairness in our accessibility to communication services.

(Time expired)