Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since I commenced my telco campaign last year, I've heard from hundreds of people across my electorate and around Australia who face the same problems caused by inadequate service by big telco. Today I'd like to share some of their stories with the House.

Prue from Torrens Park in South Australia said: 'I run an online counselling business in the pandemic of anxiety. I shudder to think what this has cost in the last six months. It's a total nightmare in which I have to climb a mountain, literally with laptop in hand, to speak to anyone. When the internet is off, 50 per cent of the time I have no television, no phone service, nothing. I have a battery-operated radio that occasionally picks up the ABC. I'm 68-years-of-age and live alone, and my children are really worried that, if I had a fall, there's no way I could let anyone know until I died. I live literally 10 kilometres from the CBD. This is an appalling Fourth World system.'

Cheryl, from Glenorie, in my electorate, wrote in her submission:

Since we've lived in Glenorie (16 years) we have been 'plagued' by many, many people driving to the front of our house and stopping there.

We couldn't figure out at first why.

Then it dawned, they had no reception where they lived or worked, and our place was the first available place to take or receive calls.

My poor next-door neighbour used to think they were up to no good and it took a while to convince him they were only on their phones.

This is beyond a joke.

Deirdre from Talbingo, in New South Wales, wrote: 'Mobile service is so intermittent that sometimes it takes three to four phone calls to complete a conversation, as the phone service drops out so regularly. During holiday periods, visitors to the town and campers on Blowering Dam swell the numbers of people using the system, and the system can't cope—to the point that a signal is almost non-existent. This is a dangerous situation, as in an emergency situation we're unable to call emergency services. Landline for those have it is also unreliable, and we've had times when that also goes out for up to three days. This is a topic of many conversations in our community. We feel let down by many parts of the system.'

Irmgard, from Lake Cathie, said:

My husband has several serious health problems.

When he suffered a very severe heart attack a few years back, the paramedics were unable to get in touch with the hospital for approval of an urgent procedure.

He only survived due to the extraordinary effort by one of the paramedics performing CPR all the way to the hospital.

There are frequent interruptions to our electricity supply, which means we and our neighbours are left without a landline as well and therefore have no access to emergency help during that time.

Our internet connection is the old-fashioned copper kind, although the myriad of new estates being built all around us have access to both proper mobile reception and fibre technology internet to their houses.

I find it hard to understand why Telstra is allowed to extract money from us for a service which it does not deliver.

Irmgard, I have to say: I'm with you 100 per cent.

Bernadette, from Bellbrook in New South Wales, wrote:

In 2019 we had an Emergency Warning for the Carrai Fire.

We lost all power at approximately 2pm on Friday 8 November which meant that our landline & satellite NBN also went down.

We then had patchy mobile reception until 11pm when the nearest Telstra tower was damaged by fire.

From that point on we had no access to any telecommunications.

This meant our only connection from the outside world was via the battery-operated transistor radio so we tuned into ABC Mid North Coast which was frustrating as the updates being announced were different to what we could see on the ground an we had no way of letting anyone know.

After 24 hours, what soon became infuriating was the constant announcement on the radio to refer to the RFS "Fires Near Me App" or the "RFS website" which was impossible without either mobile reception or NBN internet.

Simply referring us to a website, hotline or app is not going to work.

Mark, from Moggill, near Brisbane, wrote:

Since moving into my new home I have had no service with Telstra.

I've contacted them on numerous occasions which has resulted in a $50 credit and quote for over $2,000 to install a 4G repeater antenna as there are no plans for Telstra to invest in additional infrastructure in our suburb.

The quoted price is the equivalent of over 3 years of my plan costs.

I work from home full time and am unable to be contacted much of the time.

I end up receiving missed calls often hours later and need to stand outside to return calls meaning I can't work on my computer at the same time which is completely impractical.

These stories, and so many more, indicate why we need urgent telco reform in this country. In the peri-urban areas of Australia, in the regions and in remote Australia telecommunications should be a service Australians can rely on. But big telco seems to be alone among the service providers that provide services to Australians in taking money from Australians and failing to deliver a service again and again and again. This is why I've been working hard with colleagues on seeking to reform telecommunications, and it's a campaign I'm not going to give up on.