Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The vulnerability of my community to power failure and lack of communications was highlighted yet again this weekend. As the first bushfire of the season in the Blue Mountains at Faulconbridge was whipped up by strong winds with temperatures in the high 30s and low 40s, power went down, and that means, for anyone on NBN, the phones died. For many of us, that means no mobiles either, because we don't have mobile coverage and rely on our modems to link us to the network with wi-fi. Once power was restored, Facebook told the story of anxious hours without good access to communication. In Faulconbridge, residents who can usually access an Optus signal reported that it had been down. In Winmalee, a resident with Telstra mobile lost reception. She could get the occasional Facebook message but couldn't load Fires Near Me for updates. In St Albans, the landlines themselves failed. Telstra failed on top of everything else. Residents are resorting to recommending satellite phones for people living in urban areas. It's ridiculous and happening right across the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury.

These are the ongoing problems that the Morrison government turns a blind eye to. In its half-baked approach to black-spot funding, this government was happy to take away a proposed mobile phone tower for Mount Tomah. It leaves telcos to be responsible and takes no responsibility for the gaps. It's time there was a complete review of phone and mobile coverage for bushfire areas and that this problem was fixed. (Time expired)