Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A key priority for me is to secure improved mobile phone reception within the Redlands. It's an area of acute concern to many locals in the mainland suburbs as well as in our Bay Islands. In today's digital age, having reliable mobile service is not a luxury but a necessity. When phone reception is patchy or failing, it can have a significant impact on our businesses, families and lives.

I'm pleased to report that progress is being made to improve mobile reception throughout the Redlands. Through my collaboration with service providers, we've seen 28 mobile network improvements and upgrades from Optus, Telstra and Vodafone across the Redlands. On the islands in my electorate, these mobile coverage issues are even more pressing. Russell Island is home to an Optus tower funded by the previous coalition government. Unfortunately, due to recent wild weather over the summer, we have seen significant issues with this infrastructure, including a totally unacceptable situation where residents could not call triple 0. I met with senior Optus executives to discuss this recently and to push for a solution. I'm pleased to report that a new battery will be installed at the tower within the next few weeks to ensure that these failures will not be repeated.

No matter where Redlanders choose to live, they should have access to good mobile coverage. I'd like to thank all those who have reached out to me on this important issue, including the over 2,500 who responded to a recent survey of mine in relation to identifying mobile blackspots.