Disgruntled Beveridge residents last week grilled state and federal government ministers about poor mobile phone coverage and inadequate internet services.
Victorian Senator Scott Ryan and Paul Fletcher, the parliamentary secretary to the communications minister, came to town last Wednesday so residents could air concerns about mobile phone black spots.
The forum was called in response to the Better Beveridge Group’s petition, to be tabled in Parliament within the next sitting period by Senator Ryan, which calls for adequate and reliable internet services and the elimination of notorious mobile black spots.
Better Beveridge Group secretary Ian Rankin said the petition was started last year to push the government and Telstra for service upgrades.
“I think we’ve finally hit the right buttons,” he said.
About 34 people attended the invitation-only forum. Some questions raised touched on specific issues, such as Telstra’s practice of putting residents on waiting lists for ADSL ports and the notorious mobile black spot at University Hill in Bundoora.
Mr Fletcher has portfolio responsibility for the federal government’s mobile phone black spot program and is on a national tour spruiking its benefits and eligibility requirements.
The $100 million program will invest in telecommunications infrastructure to improve coverage of high-quality mobile voice and wireless broadband services.
Communities wanting funding will only be eligible if they are small, along major transport routes and prone to experiencing natural disasters.
Asked whether Beveridge ticked the right boxes, Mr Fletcher said he “couldn’t prejudge the results”.
“We’ll have to wait and see how the competitive process plays out,” he said.
McEwen MP Rob Mitchell labelled the forum a “waste of time and energy”.
“The parliamentary secretary has been travelling to every corner of the country raising expectations that every man and his dog will get a new mobile tower, despite the fact that the program will fund only 250 to 300 towers,” Mr Mitchell said.
He said he first alerted the federal government to the area’s poor mobile coverage two years ago.
