DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL HEALTH
SHADOW MINISTER FOR REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS

FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MALLEE

TOPICS: Mallee Machinery Field Days, mobile coverage at field days, mandatory domestic roaming, internet coverage in vehicles, connectivity software integration, social media comments on Energy minister, Labor’s energy policies, homelessness and charities, Labor centralisation of social services

Burrows

Now joining me on the phone is Member for Mallee, Anne Webster. Great to talk to you, Anne.

Webster

Great to talk to you Dave.

Burrows

And I do hear that you were at the Mallee Machinery Field Days last week. Had a good time catching up with farmers and others across the region like you would expect that. It's always great at the Mallee Machinery Field Days.

Webster

It absolutely is. I was reflecting on it last night actually. I don't go past my tent. I want to be available to people, so I just hang about at my tent other than trying to find my car later - we won't talk about that. And so, lots of people. I mean, it's just nonstop people wanting to talk about what's going on or even the ‘thank you for the work you're doing’, which is really lovely.

Burrows

Nice.

Webster

… makes up for some of the emails that you get. But anyway, we'll put that aside as well. It's all part of the job. And no, it's great to talk to people face-to-face and catch up with people that I don't get to see every day and it's always good to hear their stories, hear their perspectives and bring it to Canberra, which is where I am right now.

Burrows

Okay, then alright. I don't want to ask about the car but I will point out that the Field Days are in a round formation so maybe the car park's the same. No, I don't want to go into the car but yes, it's fascinating that it's like that.

Webster

I'm actually the person that when I go to Myer and I get off the escalator, I have to look at the back of the shop and the front of the shop and work out which way I'm supposed to be going and I inevitably get it wrong. So, when I park my car at the field day, as you can imagine, as I'm walking toward where I hope the tent is, I'm looking back to see what I will look like when I go back to my car. Because I just need those hints, what can I say?

Burrows

I've got to give you a bit of a hint here, live on air, Anne, I think you can use maps in your phone and actually tag your car on the phone.

Webster

(Laughs) No, the internet is shocking at the field days.

Burrows

Is it still? That was the first time I saw Telstra bring in a mobile internet service on the trailer, actually, was there?

Webster

Oh, they do. Yeah, they do, and others have got Starlink and if you can find a Starlink to hook into, someone will let you do that. It's better, but you absolutely can't rely on it, no.

Burrows

Okay, then. Well, you've said about mobile phone coverage and the ACCC inquiry into regional mobile coverage is such a great thing, isn't it?

Webster

It is a really good thing because Gina Cass Gottlieb, she is the Chair of ACCC and she has acknowledged that the previous studies into mandatory domestic roaming, we weren't at that stage in a position where it could be something that we really need to push. But now we're in a position where too many people out in the regions cannot access communications, and that is a huge problem. We've had multiple triple zero faults. We've had Telstra fall over, we've had Optus fall over. You know, there needs to be, in the regions, that's our focus, in the regions there needs to be a camp on, camp off from tower to tower because we don't have enough towers. There are lots of arguments that are inevitably going to come out through the inquiry, but the Coalition absolutely welcomes the inquiry. We've been pushing for it. The last one was 2017 and this is extremely timely and we know Telstra aren't particularly enamoured but... honestly, it's not about Telstra. It's about Australians.

Burrows

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to be honest with you. I actually set up a mobile hotspot in my car, a Wi-Fi system in my car, but it's still on my mobile wireless broadband anyway. It's just an aerial, so you get that just to squeeze every single little kilometre, even 100 metres out of that signal while I'm away.

Webster

Yeah, well, I've now put a Starlink on my car and then … we could talk about this for half an hour, I mean now I find out that Starlink and Apple CarPlay won't connect together. So, Telstra very kindly have given me, try this, try this and try this and we'll see if we can actually make it work. But I tell you what, it's not easy and these telcos, not the telcos, the digital... providers need to work together. I know Apple don't care, but, for those of us who want to actually access services while we're out roaming, we need to have it all function. And they, I don't know what game they're playing by not having it all work together. Somebody needs to do something about it.

Burrows

Well, thank you for letting me know about that, because I've got Apple and I was looking at Starlink, so you've just saved me quite a few dollars there.

Webster

Well, yeah, this is the point, isn't it?

Burrows

You don't know until you try it.

Webster

Who would have thought that between a major car manufacturer, Toyota, and Starlink, Elon Musk and Apple, that there might be an issue with comms? Good grief.

Burrows

Crazy. Absolutely crazy. Hey, look, let's move on to this. I noticed there was like a thousand eleven hundred shares on this the other day. Was it a split screen with you and was it Chris Bowen?

Webster

Yes, Chris Bowen is the gift that keeps on giving. We love Chris Bowen for conservative politics because people are so damn mad with him and all of his harm to regional communities while he chases off into the blue yonder to follow an ideology that is not proven successful anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, he's making Australia broke. Economically we are going down the toilet. We cannot manufacture. This is a dire situation. So, I will use him every time he opens his mouth and says something that is incredibly irritating because people need to know the stupidity of the Labor government and what they have imposed on Australia.

Burrows

And it's your policies. We could be talking about that for half an hour as well, but I did want to get your take on the mass homelessness food drive on Friday as well, because I did see you out there, such a great thing, isn't it?

Webster

Look, absolutely. Our charity services, and there are many in Mildura alone, let alone across Mallee, and I won't start naming them other than the one you've named, MASP, but there are many charities who do an incredible job to help those live their lives and manage what is a cost-of-living crisis, homelessness, you name it, people are doing it tough. And it's just so imperative that all our charities are supported and they are not all supported by this government who has a great fetish for centralisation to larger city providers. That is another topic for another day, Dave, but it irritates me, I can tell you.

Burrows

That's probably longer than the half an hour conversation, Anne.

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