‍DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TERRITORIES
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: regional telecommunications, mobile coverage, 3g shutdown, Triple Zero, speed limits, regional roads, short consultation period, Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program

Seal

Well, joining us live is Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Dr Anne Webster, and thank you so much for joining us. It doesn't seem that any of these recommendations have been implemented, and there's certainly a lot of issues regarding connectivity. What can you tell us?

Webster  

Well, thanks very much for having me, Jaynie, we also have the 3G review that the Senate held an inquiry for, which had three recommendations about the 3G shut down, and the government has done nothing about that. What I can tell you is, anecdotally, as I'm travelling around Australia, listening to regional communities, 3G has - the shutdown of 3G has caused immense trouble. Every day I am contacted to say I have no phone connectivity. Let's remember the 3G shut down 12 months ago, and the government is not in any hurry to fix the problem. It has a mapping exercise which is going to - they're going to give us a report in 2027. That's very nice. What about all the people who live in regional Australia now who can't call Triple Zero, who can't have their devices function? You know, health devices, whether it's heart or whether it's full monitoring, none of it works if they have no connectivity. I think the government has failed to address this for regional Australians, and I, for one, am not going to be silent as the Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, this is absolutely on my radar, and I know it's on Melissa McIntosh’s, who's the Shadow Minister for Communications, as well. So we will have more to say about this during this coming week of Parliament sitting.

Seal  

And we've heard time and time again on Sky News, people calling us to say that they've had these issues. And again, you raise the issue, of course, of the tragic deaths that occurred due to the lack of the Triple Zero incident. What can be done in the interim? Because some people are using Starlink, some people don't want to, but what do we do in the immediate term?

Webster  

Well, I think we've got even more complication now. We've just found out that 50,000 Samsung phone owners cannot use Triple Zero. They can't ring Triple Zero. What's the government going to do about that? This is on the Albanese government's watch. They have a responsibility to be all over this, their recommendations, the recommendations from both RTIRC and from the Senate inquiry have been basically noted. Well, what does that mean? What is actually being actioned by this government? What accountability are they holding for Telstra, for Optus, for Vodafone - TPG, what actions are being taken not to leave Australia behind, Australians behind? Albanese government is very, very good at repeating the statement, no one held back, no one left behind. But people in regional Australia are left behind all the time, all the time, and that includes in roads as well, Jaynie.

Seal  

Yeah, absolutely. And it's not just one or two little spots occasionally, it's quite widespread, isn't it? There's some lack of connectivity.

Webster  

Absolutely, it is all over Australia. I've just been visiting communities over in Western Australia this week and hearing from regional shires talking to businesses over there - 3G shutdown is impacting them. I know it's silly, but living on the eastern side of Australia, you forget that Western Australia actually is going through the same problems, but because the federal government has not paid attention and is not dealing with these issues.

Seal  

I wanted to ask you as well, Anne Webster, the Albanese government's plan to slash speed limits on regional roads, what's the latest on this?

Webster  

It is, frankly, a disaster. Normal consultation periods … there is a current consultation going on, on the Department of Infrastructure, about slashing speed limits on roads in regional Australia. It comes about because of fatalities - fatalities are going up, they're not coming down. And while nobody wants to see another life lost on any road, regional roads are where it tends to happen. So there's this consultation period. I'm a little bit cynical, because it's a very short consultation period. It closes on Monday and most people don't even know that it's open. So Catherine King did not make a presser - an announcement - that here is a consultation about setting a default speed limit for 70 kilometres an hour on roads out in the regions. I am appalled by this. They have slashed funding on regional roads. They're not supporting local governments who have to manage 77 per cent of Australia's roads. They've cut their funding back the Local Roads Community Infrastructure funding. They've cut that - that will no longer go forward. That was uncontested funding and untied funding so councils could fix the roads that they know need fixing. The Albanese government has seen fit to remove that particular funding. What we have is people on regional roads who will be taking, if the speed limit was 100 kilometres an hour as a default speed, and they now have to travel at 70 kilometres an hour to get their kids to school, to get their kids to sport, for transport trucks to get product to from the regions to the port or to the cities. That is a lot of money and time that basically out of sight, out of mind. The Albanese government, frankly, doesn't care. I think they have made up their mind about this. It's the easiest solution. It's the lazy solution. They're not prepared to put dollars into fixing our roads, and that is what every regional Australian wants.

Seal  

What a big issue. We've run out of time, but we will have to get you back on again to talk about this more. Dr Anne Webster, thank you so much.

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