Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill 2025
Mr TEHAN (Wannon) (18:45): Mobile phone coverage is absolutely vital in regional and rural Victoria, particularly in the seat of Wannon. That is why I was so proud to be a member of a government, a coalition government, that put in place the Mobile Black Spot funding. We put that in place in 2014.
Since then, it has delivered nearly 40 new mobile phone towers in the electorate of Wannon. We have received more than our fair share as a result of that coalition program, and it wouldn't be in place if it weren't for a coalition government. I remember taking Paul Fletcher, the then minister for telecommunications, up the Victoria Valley and impressing upon him the need for us to get improved mobile phone coverage.
That in part helped us to get that fund in place and to deliver nearly 40 new mobile base stations in Wannon. That has been a fantastic achievement. Does it mean we rest on our laurels?
No, it doesn't. It means we continue to keep going. But what do we need to make sure that we can keep providing improved mobile phone access in Wannon, right across Victoria and right across regional and rural Australia?
You need a coalition government, because guess what this government, the Albanese Labor government, has done. They've decided in the budget not to have any more Mobile Black Spot Program after the year 2027-28. That is simply not good enough, and we won't stand for it, because we know that we need to keep delivering improved mobile phone reception into the electorate of Wannon and right across rural and regional Australia.
As a matter of fact, what this government has done is make the situation worse, because, through the sheer incompetence of switching off the 3G network, it has actually reduced the coverage rather than improved it. That is why I was so proud to be a member of a coalition government that put the Mobile Black Spot Program in place to start with and saw it deliver, through the advocacy of local community groups and local towns in my electorate, nearly 40 new mobile base stations.
I want to make sure it continues. Let me give you one example of why we have to make sure it continues. Recently, I was at the Simpson Speedway.
The Simpson Speedway puts on the best sprint-car entertainment that you will see, and guess how they do it. It is all volunteers. They put on about 11 meetings a year.
Do you know how they run them? They just put out the call for volunteers, and 110 to 120 volunteers just turn up and put on the event. So you've got people there in their utes and in their tractors.
They'll be pushing the cars and getting them going. When there's a smash, as occasionally there is, the tractors will be making sure they're picking up the cars and getting them off the track safely. You've got the wonderful volunteers in the cafeteria.
Deputy Speaker Vasta, you'll love this, and I'm sure the member opposite will love this too: the fries in the cafeteria at Simpson—it is all volunteer run—are the best chips in the Southern Hemisphere. That's how they advertise them— Mr Birrell: Hot chips! Mr TEHAN: Hot chips!
I can tell you that I had some when I was there and they're the best in the Southern Hemisphere. There are secret spices in there. It's all done, because it's all volunteers.
This is a wonderful event that they put on in the speedway 11, sometimes 12, times a year—all volunteer run. I want to make sure they've got proper mobile phone coverage there. Since I've been there, I've spoken to Telstra and pointed out to them these wonderful community events where thousands of people come along.
They need to make sure that they have proper mobile phone coverage. We need to make sure we've got our Mobile Black Spot Program to be able to deliver that. I say that with a tiny bit of self-interest.
The member for Riverina will love this. This coming Sunday, I'm actually going in a sprint car. I'll be going round the track in a sprint car.
Mr McCormack: Before or after the election is called? We don't want a by-election! Mr TEHAN: I must admit my knuckles are a little bit white.
Mr Thistlethwaite interjecting— Mr TEHAN: No, Assistant Minister Thistlethwaite, I am not driving! I will be in the back with a very experienced driver, doing this for charity. It is a wonderful charity—the Gillin Boys Foundation.
They do wonderful work. I am happy to support them, but I'm already getting a little bit nervous about it. Back to the point, I'd be a little less nervous if I knew that we had proper mobile phone coverage at the Simpson Speedway.
I'm going to continue to work with Telstra to make sure that that becomes a reality, but the fact that we don't have the mobile black spot funding continuing beyond 2027-28 is a great shame because that program has really delivered for regional and rural Victoria. I'll give you another example. There is a wonderful country town in my electorate—Hawkesdale.
It's got a wonderful P-12 school. It's a hub for the surrounding farmers. We need to make sure that it has proper mobile phone coverage because it wasn't so long ago that there were devastating fires that threatened that town.
One of the key things about fires—as we saw with the fires in the Grampians that threatened Pomonal, Halls Gap, Willaura,Glenthompson and other communities over Christmas and the new year—is that we need to make sure that we've got proper mobile phone coverage. We need to make sure that we can get that for Hawkesdale, and the Mobile Black Spot Program will help deliver it.
We will ensure that black spot funding continues because we understand how important it is for places like the Simpson Speedway and Hawkesdale. There are many other examples of where we need to keep rolling out that black spot funding right across the electorate of Wannon. We want to make sure that, ultimately, we've got the mobile telecommunications services that the cities enjoy at the moment.
That's why the coalition put in place that mobile black spot funding. It's funny that others take credit for how many mobile phone towers they put in their electorates, but none of it would have happened if it weren't for a coalition government. The Telecommunications Amendment (Enhancing Consumer Safeguards) Bill creates a register of carriage service providers, enables the direct enforcement of an industry development code, increases the maximum penalty amount from $250,000 to $10 million and amends the existing two-step process for the application of penalty amounts for infringement notices.
It's a bill which enjoys support across the parliament. Obviously, doing more to increase transparency to make sure that, where there are abuses, we can act upon them is something that everyone wants to see in this place. Anything which enhances consumer safeguards and does so in a way that is sensible and doesn't put a huge red-tape burden in place is obviously something that we would support.
One thing we don't support—I'll end on this note—is a cut to the Mobile Black Spot Program. I say to those opposite, seriously, for regional and rural Victoria, especially with the debacle of the 3G network being turned off in the way that it was: we need that program, and we need it back. It's sad that it wasn't in the budget.