The continuing rain events impacting Far North Queensland shows that help is needed for more people than just the limited Townsville suburbs declared to date according to Shadow Minister for Emergency Management Perin Davey.
“Recent announcements for Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements are welcome but the limited areas have left some flood ravaged residents questioning why they have been left out,” Senator Davey said.
“While Townsville has designated zones, this event has seen flash flooding in areas that have not been listed as eligible for disaster funding, so the list needs to be expanded.
“In the wider region, not only are families and businesses facing flooding of their properties, but communication failures are presenting further risk for safety and hampering recovery.
“Telstra’s latest advice said landline, mobile phones, NBN and other services in a very wide area are impacted and at least 6 communities are isolated and unable to contact Triple zero, which is a very serious safety issue.
“Repair attempts are hampered by the need to get equipment to affected areas that cannot be accessed with roads cut off and no capacity to bring in equipment by air.
“The Liberals and Nationals in Government established the Mobile Network Hardening Program to strengthen the resilience of telecommunications facilities to allow them to operate for longer during natural disasters which has thankfully been continued by Labor, but the focus must be on prioritising high-risk areas like far north Queensland.
“The lack of communications also hampers our first responders and public safety agencies, meanwhile we have been waiting for years to see delivery of the Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB).”
Senator Davey said the PSMB, which would ensure public safety agencies would have access to modern technology and digital connectivity in emergency scenarios to improve operational outcomes, is still being reviewed by a taskforce funded until June 2025.
“The PSMB is a crucial service for our frontline services and should be a priority for the Government,” Senator Davey said.
“The events in Townsville are sadly not unique and the problems we are seeing will happen again unless we have better strategies, more locally available communications options, and roads and bridges that are fit for purpose.
“The need to build back better has never been more obvious than in this current event,” Senator Davey said.
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