Paul Fletcher speaks to ABC Central West about black spots in the electorates of Hume and Calare

HOST: Across the Easter and ANZAC day long weekend I had a handful of very frustrated friends who came from the city for a visit, and found that even in the big towns across our region they struggled to get phone service. We are all aware of where the mobile black spots are in our town, and which service provider we need to sign up with to try and get as much coverage as we can, but it is still really frustrating. Well, poor mobile phone coverage will be on the agenda across the central west for the next couple of days. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Communications, Paul Fletcher, is touring towns in the Hume and Calare electorates. I caught up with him a short time ago before he jumped on a plane to come to Orange, and asked him about the government’s mobile coverage program.

PAUL FLETCHER:

Well the Abbott government took to the 2013 election a commitment to spend $100 million on improved mobile coverage in regional and remote Australia. We are now in the process of developing the deeper implementation of that, and as part of that I am travelling to different parts of the country, joining with my parliamentary colleagues to meet with community members and understand the needs in the local area for mobile phone coverage.

HOST:

Why is it important for the government to fix these mobile black spots?

PAUL FLETCHER:

Well we’ve got a very big country and the three mobile network operators; Telstra, Optus and Vodafone; while they’re continuously investing and upgrading their network, there are always going to be areas which need coverage, where the carriers cannot justify putting base stations, given their particular business rules and the limited amount of money they have to spend, and so therefore it is important to make available some public money in areas where there is a particular need for coverage. So under this program there’s a focus on small communities, major transport routes, areas that are prone to natural disasters such as bushfires, and also areas with unique coverage needs such as high seasonal population variation, such as towns that get a lot of holiday visits over the Christmas period for example.

HOST:

Up until this point how have you been identifying the worst reception areas across the country?

PAUL FLETCHER:

Well what we’re doing is encouraging people all around Australia to advise their local member of parliament, so for example the local member for Calare, John Cob, you could call his office, or the member for Hume, Angus Taylor, or people can contact the Department of Communications directly by emailing [email protected], and all you need to do is let us know the location you think needs coverage and doesn’t have it. Now of course Australia’s a very big country, and while $100 million is a lot of money, it won’t fix every problem, so what we need to do is identify the highest priority areas for getting coverage and getting money under this program.

HOST:

Have lots of locations been nominated up until this point?

PAUL FLETCHER:

We have had close to 2000 locations nominated, now as I say we don’t have sufficient funds to be able to provide coverage in all of them, so it is a question of finding the highest priority areas, and looking particularly at those areas which are small communities that don’t have coverage, major transport routes, areas prone to natural disaster and also areas with unique coverage needs, such as areas with high season variation due to being, for example, a holiday town.

HOST:

Now you are in the Calare electorate today and the Hume electorate tomorrow, where exactly will you be travelling on those visits?

PAUL FLETCHER:

That’s right, today I’ll be in Calare with John Cobb, the member for Calare, and we’ll be starting in Molong and meeting with Parks Shire Council, Orange City Council and other local community leaders and community representatives, and then in the afternoon we’ll be in Wattle Flat, and then tomorrow with Angus Taylor, the member for Hume, we’ll be in Boorowa having a community forum there.

HOST:

Is that community forum open for anyone to attend is Boorowa tomorrow?

PAUL FLETCHER:

All you need to do is contact Angus Taylor’s office and they can make arrangements if you’re interested in going along.

HOST:

What do you hope to take from these visits?

PAUL FLETCHER: 

Well what I hope to take from these visits is an understanding of the mobile coverage issue in the electorates of Hume and Calare, both John Cobb in Calare and Angus Taylor in Hume have been very strong advocates to me as the Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister for Communications and also to Malcolm Turnbull as the Minister for Communications about the need for improved communications facilities, including improved mobile phone coverage in their electorates. Now as I say, we don’t have enough money to fix every problem unfortunately, so what I hope to get from these meetings tomorrow is a sense of what are the highest priority areas, and the areas where we will be able to deliver the greatest benefit.

HOST:

Paul Fletcher thanks so much for your time this morning and enjoy your stay in the region.

PAUL FLETCHER:

Thanks very much

HOST:

Paul Fletcher there, Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Communications, in the Calare electorate today and the Hume electorate tomorrow, holding that community forum in Boorowa, just get in touch with Angus Taylor’s office if you are interested. That email address to register a black spot is [email protected] or you can phone your local member.

{soundcloud}https://soundcloud.com/paul-fletcher-mp/paul-fletcher-chats-to-abc-central-west-about-mobile-coverage-issues-in-the-electorate-of-calare{/soundcloud}