Election 2022: The Coalition pledges $106m for telecoms resilience as emergency preparedness takes centre stage

The Coalition has announced a $106 million pledge for disaster-ready telecommunications, which Labor says its “too little, too late” as election day nears.

Emergency preparedness on the South Coast has taken centre stage again today as The Coalition unveils their plans to spend $106 million on disaster-ready telecommunications projects across the country.

Minister for Emergency Management Bridget McKenzie made the announcement in Mogo on Friday, stating that the funds would be used to protect communities from fires as well as floods.

“We know we’re never going to be able to bushfire proof Australia, but what we can do is make sure our communities are better prepared for the next time that they face a natural disaster,” she said.

“This money will be going through to projects where we extend the battery life of mobile base stations, or have generators available locally so that when the power is switched off or becomes unavailable because of the natural disaster, communities will have that level of connectivity.”

Ms McKenzie said the funds will be drawn from the Federal Government’s previously announced Connecting Regional Australia initiative as part of the 2022 federal budget.

The money will be spent in high-risk communities hit hard by the Black Summer bushfires, such as South Durras and Conjola, as well on deployable connectivity assets such as NBN trucks and RFS bases.

“We need to get that level of connectivity up and going so that people that are being impacted, can get in contact with their loved ones and make sure they’re safe and keep abreast of emergency service information,” Ms McKenzie said.

For Liberal candidate for Gilmore Andrew Constance, the issue of emergency connectivity is a personal one.

“I will never ever, ever forget the morning that there was 1000 people on a Malua Bay beach and there was no ability to communicate, particularly to emergency services,” he said.

“So, this is major news for our community in terms of what‘s going to continue to happen.”

The announcement comes only days after Mr Constance’s main opponent in the 2022 Federal Election, Labor’s Fiona Phillips, was in South Durras making a similar announcement to fireproof telephone lines and shore up the Wandera Tower.

In a statement, Ms Phillip’s said the Liberal’s announcement was “too little, too late.”

“After two years of doing nothing, in the final weeks of the election campaign, the Liberals are just playing catch up,” Ms Phillips said.

“Today Andrew Constance and Bridget McKenzie didn’t promise anything specific for our community here in Gilmore.

“I’m really proud to see the Liberals following my lead on this as Labor once again sets the agenda in Gilmore. At the end of the day, this is the community winning and benefiting from a local member who listens and never gives up.”

Ms Phillips urged voters to look at the Liberal party’s record to understand that they cannot be trusted.

“It took them three years before they spent a dollar of their $4.8 billion emergency response fund,” she said.

“It’s always too little, too late.”

In contrast, Mr Constance said work had already begun in shoring up communications infrastructure in the region, including at the Wandera Tower near Batemans Bay which was destroyed in the Black Summer fires.

The crucial communications hub was rebuilt, and has had a diesel generator installed so that it can continue operating without mains power.

Speaking specifically about the South Durras area, Mr Constance said: “They’ve already got additional battery capacity attached to both their exchange and the mobile tower, which is fantastic news in terms of that community.

“There is more to be done and it’s across the board.

“It has to be done in a way in which the Commonwealth, who is providing the money, can work with state owned electricity providers, and of course also working alongside the telecommunications providers.”

Mr Constance also touted the investment in 10 new Sky Master satellite dishes, with more expected as a result of the announcement.

“Unfortunately at the point when the fires came through, our fire trucks were out in the community and were coming back because there was no content for our radios,” he said.

“Only one per cent of the telecommunication assets were damaged by fire. The other 99 per cent went down because of power backup. So that’s where having fire retardant cabinetry such as the new cabinetry at Wandera is important in terms of providing that additional battery capacity.”