The Telstra outage last Wednesday should at last confirm for governments that telecommunications is not a convenience, it has for a long time been essential infrastructure.

As Shadow Minister for Regional Communications, I have argued that reliable connectivity is as important as roads, rail, water and electricity. When Telstra’s network failed, businesses were disrupted, hundreds of Triple Zero calls could not connect, and the V-Line regional rail network was brought to a standstill while communication systems were restored.

Australians already deserved answers after two Optus outages affecting Triple Zero and other essential connectivity – now, even more so, after Telstra’s outage.

Today, Telstra Chief Executive Officer Vicki Brady and senior Telstra representatives will appear before the Senate Triple Zero inquiry initiated by the Liberal-Nationals Coalition. We launched that inquiry after serious concerns about Australians' access emergency services during telecommunications failures, and it is entirely appropriate that the inquiry now examines last Wednesday’s Telstra outage and how we prevent a repeat.

The Nationals have long been adamant that regional Australia has an enforceable, reliable Universal Service Obligation.  The current ‘USO’ is rooted in the 20th century, only guaranteeing landlines and payphones.  21st century connectivity underpins our emergency services, farming, freight, health care, education and small business. Productivity and safety fail when communications fail.  The Nationals are committed to ensuring regional Australians have reliable, life-saving connectivity.

The Telstra outage yet again highlights Labor’s neglect of our essential infrastructure, and thankfully The Nationals for Regional Victoria, in Coalition with the Liberals, have committed to fix 1 million potholes through a 25 per cent uplift in spending - $5 billion – to rebuild Victoria’s roads.  Twenty-five per cent of Victorians live in the regions but Labor only spends 12 per cent on regional infrastructure.

The Mallee electorate covers over one third of Victoria – over 83,412 square kilometres – so I know first-hand, and from the many people I see and talk with, how abominable our roads are.

Regional Victorians deserve much better than Labor’s patch-up jobs, $40 billion in major project cost blowouts and $15 billion lost to corruption on the ‘Big Build’.