By KATH GANNAWAY
EAST Warburton residents currently offline with mobile phone services most Victorians take for granted will have improved phone coverage as part of Federal Government’s Mobile Black Spot Program.
Federal Member for Casey Tony Smith returned to East Warburton on Friday to officially announce funding for a mobile phone base station as part of the $86 million program.
Mr Smith, Yarra Ranges Councillor representing O’Shannassy Ward Jim Child and Telstra representatives attended 200-strong community meeting following the Black Saturday bushfires where residents left no-one in any doubt that a functioning mobile phone service needed to be a top priority for telco providers and government.
That meeting, and another in Steels Creek, added fuel to a push by Mr Casey and a few other parliamentarians who were advocating for a policy to fund mobile black spots.
The government responded with a commitment of $100 million, and received 6221 nominations across Australia identifying areas that need improved mobile coverage.
Mr Smith said working with Yarra Ranges Council to make a joint submission strongly advocating for their two highest priority black spot communities, had reaped benefits.
“By getting Telstra out to the public meetings, making sure they understood the situation and making sure the department in Canberra knew we had just two priorities and were sticking to them, we have got them both,” Mr Smith told John Harry and other members of the East Warburton/Reefton Mobile Community Action Group last week.
The Action Group was instrumental in pushing for better coverage, chairing meetings and gathering information on the quality of reliability of mobile reception as well as access to the CFA’s ‘Fire Ready’ App.
Mr Harry told the Mail in April last year in East Warburton and nearby Big Pats Creek, people didn’t bother to use their mobile phones because there was no service to the area.
One of the issues, he said at the time, was that on high-risk days, because of the load on the services, the signal was extremely poor, with heat and smoke further degrading it to non-existent.
“In effect, if there were a fire, almost nobody would get the signal,” he said.
The identification in 2014 by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) of the Warburton region as the highest risk bushfire area in Victoria, and a support letter from Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley highlighting that risk, added further weight to the submission.
The announcement last week was good news for East Warburton residents, Mr Harry said.
He thanked Mr Smith on behalf of the Action Group, saying it was a terrific development for the area.
“Everyone will be delighted about it,” he said.
“In terms of who did what, we have been massively assisted by you and by Jim (Cr Child) and the council.”
Cr Child said the installation of 4G towers at East Warburton would have flow-on effects on other towers in the valley.
He said the council had showed by its revised mobile tower policy that they could facilitate applications and that he expected council would want to meet with Telstra to speed up the process of getting this tower up and running.
Cr Child said an improved mobile system would not only provide greater safety in bushfire season, but would provide benefits for people working in the area and for tourists.
The first base stations will begin to roll out later this year with the sequence determined by Telstra, but there was a firm view that East Warburton would have to be a high priority.
A further $60 million has been committed for a second round of the program, and while there was no commitment at this stage, Mr Smith said Reefton had been marked as council’s third priority location.
