Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Constituency questions

Eastern Victoria Region

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (12:42): (872) My question is for the Minister for Consumer Affairs in the other place. In both 2021 and 2024 severe storms brought down trees and damaged infrastructure across Eastern Victoria, causing prolonged power outages. Mobile telecommunication towers lost all power, meaning thousands of people could not call their loved ones to tell them they were okay. One example was the recent storms in Mirboo North, and I would welcome the chance for the minister to visit my electorate and discuss what the government are doing to keep the telecommunications companies to account. Currently these telcos are not meeting their obligations to keep customers safe, instead choosing to lay off staff when they are needed most, despite billions of dollars in profits. This is primarily a federal responsibility, but this government is stepping up to the plate. As part of our $540 million Connecting Victoria plan, we have installed battery backups in over 200 mobile towers in disaster-prone areas, because we understand that not having access to 000 during extreme weather events puts people’s lives at risk. Minister, what is the government doing to keep the telco companies to account and maintain power to phone towers when Victorians need them most?