Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison-McCormack government is working to provide critical telecommunications disaster relief?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the member for Mallee for her question. She, like all in this House, is obviously very concerned about the impact of the present floods in New South Wales, Queensland and, increasingly, other parts of Australia as well. Just before coming into question time I spoke to the chief executives of both NBN and Telstra to be updated on the work they're doing.

In New South Wales the latest information we have is that some 69 NBN network sites are affected and some 5,300 services are impacted. The main cause of the loss of service is the loss of power. Where possible, NBN is using backup generators, although that does depend on whether it can get access to locations. In some circumstances that is not yet feasible as it's too dangerous.

In terms of Telstra, at the moment there is a loss of coverage across 35 mobile sites in the Telstra network. Telstra advises me that it has instigated its regional management emergency services plan. It's directly engaging with relevant state emergency services. Its focus is on mobile service restoration. That's the highest priority. On 21 March, Telstra announced a disaster relief assistance package for affected customers.

One of the commitments that we made following the bushfires was to establish STAND, Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters. As part of that, NBN has already been funded and has acquired five new satellite dish equipped Road Muster trucks and 12 satellite dishes in transportable kits. These resources are available to be deployed as required should emergency services organisations request them. One of those Road Muster trucks is in Coffs Harbour and is available to be deployed as required.

We have seen earlier versions of these trucks used in natural disasters. These trucks can go into towns where communication has been lost. By connecting to the satellite they can immediately provide wi-fi connectivity to people who are in close proximity to the truck. Similarly, the flyaway kits, the temporary satellite dishes, also provide that facility. That's a very important service, and those facilities are available on stand-by for the emergency services organisations, should they request them. Both NBN and Telstra are staying very closely engaged with state emergency services. The government is staying closely involved with NBN, Telstra and the other telcos to do everything that can be done to maintain network continuity of service. As floodwaters recede, there will be work to do to restore affected facilities.