Subjects: Mobile Phone Black Spot Programme; Dairy Industry; Live Trade Exports; Arts Funding.
E&EO……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
SOPHIE MIRABELLA:
On the back of the Prime Minister’s announcement a couple of days ago of an extension of the Mobile Phone Black Spot Programme, it’s absolutely great to have the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield in Indi, to go and visit some of the key areas. We’re starting here in the Indigo Valley, going on to Myrtleford to speak about black spots in that area, and then going onto Whitfield. Because I think there’s nothing greater than the Minister experiencing some of the issues and frustrations that we have in trying to get connectivity. And it’s terrific that there is this investment, and of course we’ll always be putting our hand up to get more. It is absolutely essential that we plug the gaps in communications, not just from a safety/natural disaster perspective, but also for business. There are lots of businesses, who obviously operate on EFTPOS, and quite often that’s down, and they can’t get on with their business. So, I’m working hard with the Minister in his ear all the time, to highlight how critical it is for us here in Indi. We have unique terrain, having mountains and valleys, and that adds an additional challenge. So it’s great to welcome him here in Indi, and I’d like to thank everyone for turning up to be able to give their view of how important it is to get mobile phone coverage here in the Indigo Valley.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Thanks, it’s great to be here with Sophie Mirabella, a great friend and colleague, to talk about mobile phone black spots. Now, connectivity and telecommunications are a really important underpinning as we transition to a stronger new economy. One of the really disappointing things under the previous Labor Government was that they didn’t spend a single dollar on mobile black spots. Something in the order of 90 per cent of the nation, in terms of population, is covered by the mobile network, but only about 33 per cent of the population is covered, which means there are significant gaps and they need to be plugged.
And when we came into government, we had to make up for lost time, courtesy of our predecessors. So, Sophie argued very strongly before we came into office in 2013 for the establishment of a Mobile Black Spot Programme. If not for Sophie’s efforts, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity of the programme and Indi wouldn’t have had the opportunity under the first round to receive 30 new mobile base stations, the first two of which are nearing completion. As a result of that project nation-wide, we’re on the path to building 499 mobile base stations which will cover more than half of the 6,000 community nominated mobile phone black spots nationwide. We knew we had more to do, so we announced a second round with an additional $60 million on top of our original $100 million. And we knew we still had more to do again, so we’ve now announced a third round with an additional $60 million. So, this is the sort of work that happens when you have good strong local advocates like Sophie Mirabella.
QUESTION:
Minister, you’ve heard of the challenges – mobile service in this particular area. Do the locals here have a good case to get this black spot right here where we’re standing fixed up?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look, it’s a very good case. One of the benefits of the approach that we’ve taken, is this is all about community nominations. The community identifies themselves, with their local advocates like Sophie, with local council, those areas that are in need. So this is very much driven by the community, and we want to address as many of these black spots as we can.
QUESTION:
Minister, we saw some, an announcement, about four new ones down in Corangamite earlier in the week, so do we draw from that that you’ll be rolling out more before the election, and Indi perhaps be at the top of the list for that?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look, we’ll have more to say about the third round of the Mobile Black Spot Programme. The details of that are still being worked through. But, the really important thing, I think, for the community to be aware of, is that we do have a solution to mobile phone black spots. That we’ve had $100 million, $60 million, and now another amount of $60 million that can do something practical on the ground, something that didn’t happen for six years under our predecessors.
QUESTION:
I guess it’s a costly exercise, isn’t it? To build these new towers, and stretching those dollars across the nation I guess is a difficult thing.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, the beauty of our approach is that we seek to leverage contributions from the Telcos themselves and also from state governments, so the $100 million that we put into the first round was in fact translated into $385 million when you include other contributions. In effect, get three other dollars for each dollar of Commonwealth contribution, and we expect that will be the same in the second and the third round as well.
QUESTION:
A lot of people have had problems with Telstra in this area, there’s been a number of outages. A recent one a couple of weeks ago which has had enormous implications for businesses, do you have anything to say to the operators of Telstra for those failures?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look, Telstra are very seized of the network outages that they’ve had over the last six months or so. They’re putting incredible resources into addressing the issues that they have. They know that their business, their relationship with their customers is only as good as the reliability of the service, so that’s something that they’re very focused on.
QUESTION:
Do you have a message for Telstra?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Oh look, Telstra don’t need a message from me. Telstra realise the importance of making sure that their service is reliable.
QUESTION:
Senator, just on a couple of other matters, being a Senator for Victoria, obviously the dairy situation is very much alive at the moment. Do you have any comments on where that’s going as far as obviously, you announced loans yesterday, but is there any other assistance on the horizon?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, there’s the concessional loans which Barnaby Joyce announced. There are additional financial counsellors who have also been announced. Also funding so that we can have a transparent milk price index. I think they’re important things. And because we’re in a campaign, we’ve worked through cooperatively with our counterparts on the other side, so you know, this is something that I think, concerns all elected representatives and look, it’s a tough time, and you know, we’re doing what we can practically to be of assistance.
QUESTION:
You mentioned Barnaby Joyce. Last week he said the National Party was the, the best candidate to take on the Independent, or beat the Independent. He’s a National Party, you’re a Liberal man, would you like to respond to that?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, look we, we have two strong Coalition candidates, but I have a personal favourite and preference in Sophie Mirabella. She’s someone who is a ceaseless advocate. She makes her presence felt. In Canberra, Sophie was always punching for this area, and she is in a very good position to win this contest. Yes, it’s very competitive, but she’s in a good position.
QUESTION:
Did Barnaby get it right or wrong?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Well, Barnaby, understandably, is supporting his team. I’m supporting mine.
QUESTION:
What did you make of his comments last night linking the asylum seekers and the live trade export?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Oh, look I think Barnaby was really making the point that our relationship with Indonesia is, is very important. That Government shouldn’t do things that can damage that. But more importantly, the issue is about the people who were affected by that decision in relation to suspending live cattle exports, that sort of unilateral decision that completely fails to understand the facts on the ground with primary producers. I mean, that was Barnaby’s key point, is we can’t let something like that happen again.
QUESTION:
He’s copping a bit of stick today about it.
MITCH FIFIELD:
Oh look, Barnaby will always fight and argue, as does Sophie, for primary producers, and that was his point last night.
QUESTION:
Can I just ask you quickly on another matter? Just with your arts hat on, I guess. Wangaratta Jazz Festival recently missed out on a continuation of funding there, so they’re having to sort of reduce it a little bit there, is there something that can be done there? Are you aware of that situation?
MITCH FIFIELD:
Look, there are various funding rounds in relation to arts programs, and different community organisations who have great projects, put their propositions forward. Sometimes they’re successful in funding rounds, and sometimes they’re not, but look, I’ll certainly take a look at that particular circumstance.
[ends]