18 June 2016
ANDREW HASTIE, MEMBER FOR CANNING
Federal Member for Canning Andrew Hastie together with the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield today announced that a re-elected Turnbull Coalition Team will deliver improved mobile phone coverage to Lake Clifton and Serpentine/Keysbrook as part of an additional $60 million commitment to extend the successful Mobile Black Spot Programme.
“New mobile base stations in Lake Clifton and the Serpentine/Keysbrook area will bring a much-needed boost to mobile coverage, providing benefits to emergency service operators, businesses, and residents,” Mr Hastie said.
“The Turnbull Coalition Government understands the importance of mobile coverage in regional and remote areas of Australia and that is why we are committing an additional $60 million on top of the $160 million already invested in mobile black spots, bringing the Coalition’s total investment to $220 million.”
Under the first funding round of the programme, one mobile base station will be deployed in the electorate of Canning in Dwellingup South and 130 base stations will be built or upgraded in the state of Western Australia, addressing 363 of the 533 mobile black spots nominated by the public.
“The Coalition is committed to improving mobile coverage along major transport routes, in small communities and in locations prone to experiencing natural disasters, as well as addressing unique mobile coverage problems such as areas with high seasonal demand,” Mr Hastie said.
To date, the Mobile Black Spot Programme has committed to building 499 new or upgraded base stations covering around 3,000 black spots around Australia. This is the most significant one-time increase in mobile network coverage to regional and remote Australia ever made under a single Commonwealth funding programme.
Minister Fifield said following the success of the Coalition’s initial $100 million investment, a further $60 million funding round is already under way, with more successful locations to be announced by the end of 2016.
“Despite being in Government for six years, Labor did not spend one dollar on fixing mobile black spots in regional and remote Australia,” Minister Fifield said.
“The Coalition’s $220 million investment to address mobile black spots will ensure regional and remote communities have access to wider and more reliable mobile phone coverage.”