Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Our job as members of the federal parliament is to represent our constituents with dedication, enthusiasm and passion, and I take the opportunity to do just that. Recently I attended two community meetings in the Ryan electorate. On Thursday the 8th and on Tuesday the 13th of the month I had the great pleasure of meeting many of my constituents as well as many other locals who in fact were not my constituents but constituents of the federal seat of Brisbane, represented by the Hon. Arch Bevis MP.

The reason why I was there was that the local community was up in arms over the decision by Telstra to put up a mobile phone tower some 170 metres away from Rainworth State School, which is in the Ryan electorate. Those who attended the meetings who were not Ryan constituents were there because they would be affected by this tower, in their view, and because they were deeply concerned about the potential health effects of a mobile phone tower. The very legitimate grievance of the people at those meetings was that this tower may have enormous consequences for their health and indeed the health of their children. For those of us who are parents, of course, the most important thing in the world is the wellbeing, health and safety of our children. As the father of a three-year-old I certainly treasure the life of my son and would of course do anything and everything for him.

I must say I have enormous admiration for the residents of Rainworth and Bardon who came out on both those evenings—Thursday, 8 October, and Tuesday, 13 October—to raise their concerns. They came together in the spirit of goodwill and to seek knowledge both from experts and from technical specialists from Telstra. I must say I was deeply disappointed in Telstra’s behaviour at the meeting their representatives attended on 13 October. The way in which the meeting was set up was clearly so that they could defend themselves, not so they could provide substantial information to the people of Rainworth and Bardon.

So in the parliament today I want to call on the federal government to consider revisiting the relevant telecommunications legislation that might mandate that mobile phone facilities be placed a certain distance away from sensitive spots such as kindergartens and schools, hospitals, aged-care facilities and retirement homes. This is in the interests of not only my constituents but also constituents around the country represented by other members of parliament.