Haines calls for improved comms in King Valley and regions

REGULATIONS requiring all mobile phone towers in bushfire prone areas to have at least 24 hours of power backup, are among the key policy platforms in Indi Independent federal MP Helen Haines' plans for regional telecommunications, announced in Cheshunt this week. Dr Haines announced her regional telecommunications policies for the 2025 election in the King Valley township, saying while she'd had success over a number of years in delivering improved phone and internet coverage, there was "much more work to be done”. She said under independent representation, Indi had been the most successful Victorian electorate under the Mobile Blackspot Program, with more than 65 mobile towers built or upgraded since 2013. "But we still have areas with poor coverage and that’s something we need to keep working on," she said. Dr Haines has also called for a Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund that enables local government and community groups to invest in local, place-based telecommunications projects. She said when mobile phone towers and internet systems don’t have sufficient backup power, entire towns can become cut off, which is especially dangerous during emergencies like fires or floods, if people can’t contact emergency services and each other. Dr Haines plans would ensure that Telstra and Optus are required to install at least 24 hours of power backup at all towers servicing high bushfire risk areas. “Telecommunications outages in remote areas like Whitfield and Cheshunt in the King Valley puts lives at risk and creates a huge frustration for locals and businesses," she said. “Poor telecommunications are a barrier to prosperity and create significant challenges for our communities in times of emergency. "We must increase resilience now, before the next fire or flood arrives, not after. “Currently, local governments and community organisations are locked out of the government’s main telecommunications investment programs and this is something we need to fix." Dr Haines said the Jamieson Energy Node was a model project for the fund, which was funded after the Black Summer bushfires to build telecommunications resilience. Regardless of the conditions and without solar generation, the battery stores up to three days of autonomous power to give access to satellite internet in time of need. King Valley communities were hit hard by multiple power outages in February over the course of two weeks, with some community members in the Cheshunt area, including former Cheshunt CFA captain James Findlay, also losing mobile reception which lasted up to two hours. While newer smartphones can use satellite networks to transmit emergency SOS calls when no mobile signal is available, Mr Findlay said from his experience as a CFA member, the awareness of these settings wasn’t clear among the community. He said the community’s main hubs - the Cheshunt Hall and Whitfield Recreation Reserve - have backup generators and satellite NBN available which they have tried to promote, but people may not know to go there. Mr Findlay said Dr Haines understood the impact the frequent power outages were having on the community, and requiring Telstra and Optus to provide at least 24 hours of power backup at their towers would be a significant improvement. "Funding for community hubs to stand on their own two feet and provide power at a point where people can use it is also beneficial," he said. "We've been working hard on improving the situation here since 2017, when we were without power for five days, so it's taken a long time, but Helen has been very supportive and taken the matter to Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland MP on our behalf, and we've had responses back there too." Continual power outages in the King Valley was also the focus of recent talks in parliament between Wangaratta-based Nationals MP for Ovens Valley, Tim McCurdy, and a senior AusNet representative. Mr McCurdy said the AusNet representative apologised for the number of outages in the Ovens and King valleys over the summer period, and said AusNet is currently investigating whether it can provide generation support, encouraging King Valley organisations to apply to the Energy Resilience Community Fund to see if viable initiatives can be provided to locals, such as batteries.