By Parker McKenzie
At the invitation of Casey MP Aaron Violi, Shadow Minister for Communications David Coleman visited the Dandenong Ranges on Thursday 27 April, meeting with locals to discuss the impacts of the June 2021 storm weather event on internet, mobile and landline communications.
Mr Violi invited Mr Coleman to meet with members of Kalorama and Ferny Creek-Sassafras CFAs and to hear their stories of being cut off during the storms.
Mr Coleman said during the visit, he learned about the incredible work done by CFA volunteers and the substantial telecommunications issues in the area.
“We’re really just trying to get everyone together to address these issues because this really shouldn’t be a political thing,” he said.
“It’s not a Liberal or Labor party thing, it’s making sure that people have a basic level of services and when you’ve got people doing the courageous work that the CFA is doing, they need to have every bit of support.”
Mr Coleman was appointed Shadow Minister of Communications by the Liberal Party on Sunday 12 February 2023 and said Mr Violi has been asking him to visit the Casey electorate to see the extent of the telecommunications issues.
“Pretty much as soon as I was put into this role as Shadow-Communications Minister, he was telling me we’ve got a lot of really significant issues in telecommunications up in my electorate, particularly up on the mountain,” he said.
“There are a number of issues I want to raise with the federal government after having learned about this, particularly the support of the CFA and making sure they have access to the proper telecommunications facilities.”
Members of local CFA crews told Mr Coleman during the meeting about the impact the storms had on communications and the inability to contact each other during the disaster after battery power on mobile stations ran out.
Those in attendance told him that many of the issues present in June 2021 still persist today, with mobile blackspots, unreliable coverage and patchy service causing concerns if another disaster occurs.
Kalorama CFA Captain Bill Robinson said one of the quickest ways to solve some of the telecommunications issues would be to have a communications hub in one location.
“If we had communications at the station, and things didn’t go the way it did last time, at least the local community could come up here and then be able to speak to the outside world,” he said.
“It’s been 18 months since the storm, and nothing’s changed, nothing’s been sorted, nobody’s discussed anything, nobody’s even come up and said what do you need?”
He said what has happened in the aftermath of the natural disaster is similar to what happened in 2009 with the bushfires.
“They made promises and promises of what they’re going to fix and very, very little occurred,” Mr Robinson said.
“If you went back into some of those communities and asked them about it, they’d say not much has changed from before 2009.”
Kalorama was one of the worst hit locations during the storm weather event, with many residents cut off from emergency services and assistance for days.
The Kalorama CFA building was used as a community hub during this time, where people could gather for food, electricity and support.
Mr Violi said it was important to have Mr Coleman to see and hear firsthand about the communications challenges that we the local area faces.
“They’re very complicated challenges. The first thing we need to do is have some short-term solutions for emergency services and make sure that their communications are at a reliable standard when they need them in emergencies,” he said.
“I spoke about it in my first speech and David and I have spoken about new technologies and satellites, an example is Starlink, a private organisation, or the NBN Skymuster.”
NBN Skymuster and Starlink, which is owned by Elon Musk, both offer alternative internet connections through satellites instead of fibre, broadband or mobile carriers.
Mr Violi said he has spoken to Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland about the need for reliable communication for emergency services to be a bipartisan issue.
“It should be above politics, so we’ll continue to engage with the government in a constructive way to make sure we can deliver positive outcomes for our community,” he said.
“I want to thank all of our CFA volunteers in particular for the work they do in our community.”
