The national regional telecommunications review has heard that remote communities like those in the Torres Strait are suffering constant outages that are impacting families and businesses.
Northern Peninsula Area and Torres Strait regions are connected by a single cable – owned by Telstra – that runs from Cairns to Bamaga, and is dispersed from the mainland to the islands via ‘microwave links’.
Review taskforce member, Wiradjuri woman Dr Jessa Rogers, said her team had also heard there is a lack of understanding around the issues remote communities face.
“We're hearing that when mob do call up some of the providers and try to explain the issues, they're not heard in the way that they would like to be,” she told NITV.
“They're told solutions that just will not work for them. Living remotely, you can't just turn up at a store.
“[We’ve heard] the impact that not being connected is having on people that are already so far away from major services, such as health, schools, education, businesses and other opportunities.”
Frontline services impacted by communication issues
Rich in First Nations cultures, the region is also unique as the location of Australia’s only shared international border.
At the review’s consultation on Waiben, the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) told the taskforce it has a role to monitor state and commonwealth services in the region.
Chairperson Pedro Stephen AM said the lack of access created safety issues for individuals as well as for international border control.
“We've had conversations with health, where they [totally rely on] telehealth,” he said.
Pedro Stephen is the chairperson of the Torres Strait Regional Authority. He says outages are affecting all areas of island life. Credit: NITV: Carli Willis
“Whether it's the Border Force, whether it's state police, or federal police, or our ranger program, communication access is paramount.
“[If you] lack digital access, you don't have a safe community.”
Forced to turn to satellite, concerns it’s impacting Country
While new technologies have trickled into the region in recent years, residents are increasingly turning to other solutions as they give up on others.
Review Chair, Alannah MacTiernan said the embrace of low orbit satellite technology was escalating.
“As we go into these more remote communities, increasing numbers of people [are] taking up the low orbit type setups, but people really need to understand what options are available to them,” she said.
“We need to strengthen and bolster the capacity of the system to actually meet the needs of this community.
“We've got to do a much better job for regional communities in communicating just exactly how they navigate all of these different telecommunications options.”
Some community members raised concerns at the review on Waiben that more satellites in the sky would change the way star constellations appeared.
Zenadth Kes woman, Muriel Bin Dol said she’d like to see Traditional Owners have a seat at the table as Australia looks to form a strategy for future communications.
“Particularly, the significance for Zenadth Kes people and our star country and star knowledge and the way we rely on celestial information, and the indicators [ they give us],” she said.
Muriel Bin Dol has concerns about the effect proliferating satellites will have on the night sky, and traditional astronomy. Credit: NITV: Carli Willis
Dr Rodgers said most communities had strong leaders advocating for better services already, who should be included in the process.
“Here in the Torres Strait, we've heard from the Mayor, we've heard from CEOs, we've heard from community leaders, Elders and young people that are really digitally savvy,” she said.
“[They’re] just asking for the opportunity to have that seat at the table to really prepare for this next, coming wave of digital inclusion.”
The review still has locations in New South Wales, Western Australia, Northern Territory and South Australia to visit.
