Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to present a petition entitled 'Improved mobile coverage for Repton'. This petition has been considered by the Petitions Committee and is found to be in order. The petition, commenced by Mr Peter Tristram of Repton in my electorate, contains a number of signatures appropriate for its presentation today. However, in truth, it contains over 300 signatures from the residents of Repton. Repton is a community of approximately 700 residents and lies on the coast a short 23 kilometres south of Coffs Harbour. The main occupations in Repton are 31 per cent professionals, 14.2 per cent technicians and tradies, 12 per cent community personal service workers, 10 per cent labourers and 10 per cent managers and so on. This petition highlights the difficulties that those residents face in obtaining mobile telephone reception for work and safety. In fact, having been to Repton on countless occasions, I know that it is more often than not the case that there is no reception, so imagine trying to work at home during COVID-19 lockdown. It was very eloquently pointed out by Mr Tristram that, if landlines are down because of outages, mobile phones are the only means of contact in emergency situations.

This was precisely the situation late last year when we had our own bushfires. Repton RFS captain Mike Ryan heads up three crews of 70 volunteers serving Repton and nearby Mylestrom. From August to December 2019, they'd been out every week preparing and assisting other crews from Kempsey all the way down to Queanbeyan. Between 12 November and 15 November, New South Wales Rural Fire Service forecast ember attacks on Repton and Mylestrom. That night, Repton RFS crews door-knocked every single house in Repton and Mylestrom because there was no coverage to send out bulk SMS messages. Fortunately for many, the predictions did not eventuate. Since that time my office has arranged from Telstra a mobile booster, and its assistance has been helpful but limited. We've also written to the main communication providers requesting that they include Repton in the next round of the Mobile Black Spot Program.

I agree with the penultimate paragraph of Mr Tristram's petition, which states in part, 'We respectfully submit that in 2020 it is unacceptable and dangerous that a vibrant rural residential community does not have adequate and safe mobile telephone reception.' I will continue to work with the residents of Repton to ensure they receive the services that they need and deserve. I present the petition to the House.

The petition read as follows—