Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Telstra has received a $15 million contract to build a new national warning system that will send alerts to phones of residents threatened by disasters. In the first stage of this program there will be the capacity to deliver voice recordings to landlines on properties in the vicinity of disasters such as a bushfire. It is also expected that it will have the capacity to send a text message to mobile phones based on their billing address. As someone who has seen firsthand the effects and the traumas of the Black Saturday bushfires and the fires that raged through Bellara 10 days earlier, I am generally supportive of the need to improve communication systems for people in the path of such dangerous events. But I would like to add a few words of caution and appeal to the federal government to make sure that this program is effective in assisting the people who need it the most.

As I mentioned previously, the initial stages of this early warning system will allow text messages to mobile phones based on billing addresses only, but for the system to have maximum value in a region such as Gippsland—maximum value for both locals and visitors to the region—the emergency services need to be able to send messages to mobile phones based in their locations. It is not much point in receiving a message based on your billing address rather than your actual location if you are relaxing on a beach 500 kilometres away. I understand that the next stage of the process will allow for text messages to be sent based upon the actual location of the mobile phone at the time of the event.

It is a simple fact of geography that the areas with the worst mobile phone coverage in my electorate happen to be areas that are most prone to bushfires in the first place. From the national parks around the Latrobe Valley, through to the coastal regions and the most mountainous parts of East Gippsland, the areas with the worst mobile phone coverage are those areas where the bushfires are most likely to strike. Three of the towns recognised as at risk by the state government—Loch Sport, Bemm River and Mallacoota—all suffer from patchy mobile phone coverage at best. And, while I welcome the federal government’s commitment to the first step, there has to be a genuine commitment to ensuring the program is extended and that it helps the people who need it most in the future.

The federal government must provide additional funding to eliminate mobile phone black spots to allow this technology to achieve its full purpose. I have sought additional funding from the federal minister to roll out more mobile phone towers to address these black spots. Also, in a meeting this week with the Telstra chief executive, David Thodey, I made the same point, and I must say that Mr Thodey was understanding of the problem and supportive of the need to expand the reach of the service. It is one thing to have a warning system in place; it is a completely different matter to ensure that it reaches the people who need it the most.

We also must make sure that we do not give people a false hope about this warning system. Nothing takes the place of extensive preparation and understanding the need to leave your premises on severe bushfire days if you do not believe you are capable of defending your property. If we learnt one lesson at all from Black Saturday it was that possessions can be replaced, but lives are lost forever. I urge families in bushfire prone areas to ensure they are well prepared for the coming bushfire season. In the time that is left to me, I also take the opportunity to wish all of our firefighters a safe and very quiet bushfire season.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member, and I hope for the same.