EDDIE WILLIAMS [HOST]: Kristy McBain is the member for Eden Monaro and Minister for Local Government and Emergency Management. Good morning.

KRISTY MCBAIN [MINISTER]: Good morning.

WILLIAMS: Should the federal government set up a national pool fund?

MCBAIN: We've got a range of funds available to local councils to apply for. In this budget alone, we've committed an additional $750 million for further rounds of Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs, which brings our investment in community infrastructure to $1.7 billion. These programs have already supported a range of aquatic centres and pool redevelopment, including in Cowra, in Doveton, the John Houston Memorial Pool in Hay, the Roma pool in Queensland. So it's up to councils what they put forward as their community infrastructure projects through this grant proposal, but a range of pools have already been funded through it.

WILLIAMS: So, are you saying that there is enough funding already there for councils to access?

MCBAIN: I think it's really important. Councils have their own elected body, so they've got to prioritise what they think is their most important community infrastructure project to put forward for these grant funding rounds. But Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs have funded a range of aquatic centres and pool redevelopments already, and I see no reason why it wouldn't continue to do so in the new rounds that have been slated.

WILLIAMS: They are particularly important places, though, in regional communities especially. Should there be a dedicated pool of funding for pools?

MCBAIN: Oh, look, there's no doubt that they're incredibly important. It's really important, I think, for councils to look at their priorities, though, and put forward those, if that's what they're after. But as I said, we've got $1.7 billion in community infrastructure that we've been able to fund in the last term, and a new round of Growing Regions and Thriving Suburbs which will allow councils to put forward further pool proposals.

WILLIAMS: When you were the mayor of the Bega Valley, which is a shire with a pretty high number of pools per person, how hard was it to keep them all up and running?

MCBAIN: Oh, look, I think it's incredibly difficult. We've got six pools across the Bega Valley. We went through a swimming pool strategy and looked at how we could make the best of and maintain what we currently had. It's one of the reasons that I found some dollars as an election commitment for the Bega War Memorial Pool because it is a pool that needs to be prioritised and rebuilt for a local community. So it's really important we continue to fund those priority community infrastructure projects and that was one that Bega Valley had put forward as their absolute priority.

WILLIAMS: Snowy Monaro Regional Council is seeing delays to the works on the pools at Cooma and Bombala. There have been issues with the departure of the main contractor. Have you had conversations with the council about that?

MCBAIN: Yeah, I have, and I really do share the frustration of the Cooma and Bombala communities. This has been a long time in the making, that original funds were provided back in 2019 and we're now in 2026. And those pools unfortunately have - well, they won't be opened for this season due to the ongoing delays with the upgrade of both of those pools. I understand Snowy Monaro Regional Council has committed additional dollars to those projects to see them complete, but it is really important, I think, now that the council gets on with that. The community has been waiting a long time, not only for these upgrades to take place, but for council to step in after concerns were raised.

WILLIAMS: Is the federal government willing to step in if they need more funds to finish the project?

MCBAIN: Look, I've had some conversations not only with community members, but with the council itself. We've pointed to a range of potential grant options that they could apply for, but it is up to council now to do that planning work and understand what they're going to finalise there. Whether there are going to be any additional elements to those pool upgrades and make sure that they're properly planned and properly costed.

WILLIAMS: How do I guess, any level of government, whether it's local government or federal government, avoid taking on a contractor that just doesn't pan out?

MCBAIN: Oh, look, I think that's incredibly difficult. There's a whole bunch of due diligence that goes into a tender process before a recommendation is made to a council or to a department for ultimately the awarding of a tender. But it is incumbent upon, whether it's a council or a department, to effectively manage those projects and get the outcome that the community thoroughly deserves. And in this case, unfortunately, the community has been left a little bit frustrated in that space.

WILLIAMS: 20 to 9 on ABC South east, you're hearing from the member for Eden Monaro, Kristy McBain. This time last week, Telstra mobile outage hit many across the region and across the country. How satisfied is the government with Telstra's response?

MCBAIN: I think Telstra still has a lot to answer for in this space. I understand that they're doing their investigation at the moment, but we also know that ACMA is doing an independent investigation and obviously the Triple Zero Custodian will also be investigating this. Since the Optus outage last year, we have legislated additional penalties for telcos, particularly if they're found to not have provided the proper camp on arrangements for triple zero calls. At a time where every jurisdiction was on school holidays, where we've got small businesses that were unfortunately unable to do a range of their trading and parents were unable to take kids to a range of events and outings that they had planned. I think Telstra has still got some work to do in this space to regain the trust of its customers in the business sector.

WILLIAMS: Should they make it easier for businesses and customers to access compensation?

MCBAIN: Look, I'm pleased that they've announced that there will be a compensation process, but I think that process needs to be as streamlined as possible, particularly for those small businesses who have lost a day's trading or potentially have lost a range of sales because they didn't have access to that technology. I also am unsure what the deal will be with V/Line regional services, who obviously went down, as well as a range of NSW regional services. So, Telstra needs to work really closely, not only with the business sector and customers, but also with some of those transport operators as well.

WILLIAMS: July 27th will be the test of AusAlert. What will happen on people's phones on the 27th of July?

MCBAIN: So, the 27th of July, at 2pm Eastern Standard Time, we are doing a national test of our new national messaging system. This will be instead of a text-based message that comes to you through your telco provider, it just requires you to be in service of any tower and you will receive a notification to your phone. We're testing the critical alert function so that siren will override silent or do not disturb settings to provide an alert directly to your phone. The notification simply says on your home screen that we're testing AusAlert and there's no further action required. And if you want any information, you can go to the AusAlert website. But this does away with what we saw during the Black Summer bushfires, where a range of people perhaps didn't receive their emergency text message because they weren't a customer of the service that they were closest to.

WILLIAMS: The Saturday Paper has described you as Labor's secret weapon against One Nation. What is Labor's plan? And to try to retain support from regional voters who might be drifting towards one nation.

MCBAIN: That headline was a little bit of a surprise to me. But what I know from having lived in regional communities my whole life is that people want to see you, they want to understand who you are, they want you to show up and they want you to deliver for them. And that has always been front and centre for me to get around the large electorate of Eden Monaro and make sure that we're delivering the things that matter most to people. Whether that's trying to legislate a universal outdoor mobile obligation so that telcos have to provide a level of service to mobile phones across every part of the country. Whether that's cheaper medicines through our changes or whether that's the infrastructure that people are after, like the Bega War Memorial Pool being upgraded after many years. So, I guess from, from my perspective, it's about delivering what people are asking for.

WILLIAMS: With polls showing increased support for one nation, particularly in regional areas, has the government had to ask itself whether that approach in regional Australia is effective?

MCBAIN: I think there is a question every day for any representative about what you can do to make a difference in the community in which you represent. I obviously am in there fighting hard for regional communities. Everything from tax cuts to regional housing infrastructure to a range of services. My firm belief is a postcode should never be a barrier to your opportunity and one of the things I'm really proud of is the increased funding to public schools across the country. We know how incredibly important that is for people wherever you live but also making sure that we've got access to cheaper medicines, to urgent care clinics, to making sure that we've ring fenced in money for regional infrastructure and going into bat for how that's delivered across the country.

WILLIAMS: Kristy McBain, I appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

MCBAIN: Good to be with you.