A plan for federal funding towards improved mobile coverage in the Mountains and the Hawkesbury is short on detail according to the local Labor member, who says the region is still waiting on earlier promises to be delivered.
Bushfire-prone areas - including the Mountains - are expected to be better connected through the Morrison government's $16.4 million Peri-Urban Mobile Program (PUMP), unveiled in the 2021-22 Budget.
Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher said PUMP will improve mobile connectivity in bushfire-prone areas along the edges of Australia's major cities, helping "access vital information during emergencies [to] seek help if needed and stay in touched with loved ones".
"PUMP will also improve the quality and reliability of available mobile services ... on a day-to-day basis."
Through PUMP, the government will give grants to mobile network operators and infrastructure providers to deploy new mobile infrastructure, encouraging companies to fill in the gaps where service is poor.
Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman, who lost her home in the 2013 bushfires, said she welcomed any improvement on mobile coverage in the Mountains and Hawkesbury, but said it was "very short on detail".
"It seems the government has simply arbitrarily plucked a figure out of thin air and applied it to the program. There are no guidelines in place, no timelines, and who knows when we will see anything on the ground.
"You would have thought that, after the bushfires of 2013 in Winmalee, the need for a program to ensure mobile coverage across bushfire-prone areas was a priority."
Ms Templeman said there had been previous announcements made "by the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison governments" for mobile blackspot funding to fix problems at St Albans in the Hawkesbury and Mt Tomah in the Mountains but "neither of those towers have seen the light of day".
"I have little confidence in this government's ability to do anything other than make an announcement and take a photo. Their inability to deliver on telecommunications in suburban and rugged areas on Sydney's fringe that are without coverage is putting lives at risk."
The government said PUMP will fill in the gaps where hilly terrain or physical obstacles degrade on-ground reception. In difficult areas like small gullies or retirement villages with closely packed residences, this may require multiple targeted small cells/additional mobile infrastructure to address local issues. The government's existing regional and remote mobile coverage program, does not target these areas.
Liberal Senator Marise Payne, said to ensure PUMP is a success, it will require "co-operation, between different layers of government, residents, and the telecommunication companies."
"During last year's consultation phase for the design of the government's Mobile Black Spot Program ... I wrote to my ministerial colleagues and raised the concerns residents had flagged about the criteria as it applied to the Lower Blue Mountains," she said.
"I look forward to working with the relevant stakeholders to roll-out PUMP and deliver improved mobile for the Lower Blue Mountains."
