Phone black spots probed

By Lilly O’Gorman
MOBILE phone black spots will be on the agenda next week when the Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley visits the Eastern Dandenong Ranges.
Representatives from towns including Cockatoo, Emerald and Gembrook will meet with Mr Lapsley on Wednesday 11 July to discuss concerns about mobile coverage, Neighbourhood Safer Places, and fire readiness planning and preparation in the area.
As reported by the Gazette earlier this year (“Black out”, 7 March 2012) Gembrook Township Committee president David Nickell said a good 50 per cent of Gembrook didn’t have mobile phone coverage, including some areas close to town.
“(The Bushfire Royal Commission showed) one of the key things that went wrong for Kinglake and Marysville was communication. And we’re saying that unless mobile delivery channels are improved, (a situation like Black Saturday) will happen to us too,” Mr Nickell said.
“Our current Neighbourhood Safer Place is a car park and immediately adjacent to that is a community centre. We believe the community centre should be considered to provide shelter for residents.
“We are encouraged by the support shown by the Deputy Premier’s Office and the Fire Commissioner and we’re looking at how we can progress fire safety for the Eastern Dandenong Ranges.”
On Friday, Deputy Premier and Minister for Police and Emergency Services Peter Ryan called on the Federal Government to urgently improve mobile phone black spots in bushfire and flood prone regional areas.
“Mobile telecommunications play a critical role in the provision of warnings and information during emergencies,” Mr Ryan said.
“The Victorian Coalition Government is leading the charge in the development of a national emergency warning system emergency alert ahead of summer, with the world-first technology to be available to Telstra customers from December 1.”
“Currently, because of a lack of action by the Commonwealth, the emergency alert system will not benefit those communities where there are mobile phone black spots.
“Victoria is undertaking comprehensive work to determine the extent of locations at risk and the needs of those communities. The onus is now on the Commonwealth to partner with Victoria to move this work forward,” Mr Ryan said.
The Federal Government did not provide a response to the Gazette in time for publication.