Address to the Local Government Association of Queensland, National Convention Centre, Canberra

I'm absolutely delighted to be able to join you all here today. Of course, I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, and extend my deep respect to any First Nations people joining us today. 

Allison is right, I have had a long experience in local government and I won't be speaking out of school when I tell you that the Prime Minister really has given two instructions. One of them is about this week and the local government being in town. Given his deep interest in infrastructure and cooperation between three levels of government in delivering services to people on the ground, the Prime Minister was very keen for all of his ministers to be involved in this really important week when you're in town. That is not a hard thing to do. It's an absolute delight. 

Secondly, Minister Murray was touched on a lot of areas. But the other instruction the Prime Minister has given us is to work collaboratively with one another. It's been an absolute pleasure to collaborate with Minister Watt on some really important challenges that local governments face, including in relation to disaster management. That's why we've been able to announce, in the most recent Budget, a new National Messaging System (NMS) for emergency services, and a task force to further Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB), which will make a real difference in disaster and emergency management. 

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge there are a number of colleagues in the room here from various parts of the political spectrum because all of us do value local government. But indeed, Allison and Mayor Jameson, I must say, set the standard when it comes to industry representation.  All of you good people in council should be aware that engagement that they have, if it's anything like the engagement they have with my office and my staff in terms of devising policy and delivering improvements, you are getting the best value for money. They really are best in class when it comes to an industry group.

I guess the last thing I want to mention was some of my credentials in terms of Queensland. I was involved in local government, but there was only one other person in my family who's been in politics and that is my Aunt, who was actually the mayor of Livingston Shire many years ago. She was a great woman. Again, it just struck home to me the importance as one of my inspirations for going into local government.

Friends, as Minister for Communications, what I'd like to talk to you today about is my passions for enhancing connectivity, and delivering practical solutions to ensure all Australians thrive and stay connected. Like all of you, I'm driven by strengthening resilient, robust and sustainable communities. So as you know, I was involved in local government in Northwest Sydney in a big growth area, which is still one of the fastest growing in the state. But I'm reliably informed that some parts of the outer metropolitan Brisbane are about to take over as well. Like many in this room, I grew up in the area I represented on council. I've worked to improve the lives of constituents and I felt that was something that was really meaningful. And I know that's the reason why you're here. The work in local government can be challenging, but it does create meaningful differences to people's lives. Just a few days ago, Blacktown City Council took out the Road Safety categories for this year's National Awards for Local Government. 

I love to see how local government not only supports and keeps community safe, but actually brings joy in bringing people together. Only a couple of weeks ago, I took my children to the Blacktown City Festival. I know many of you all run similar activities in your local communities. But to see the street communities coming alive, small businesses being supported, really does speak to the importance of local government. 

So, my passion for local government continues to grow as I now engage with communities and councils across our nation as the Minister for Communications. Without this engagement, we simply cannot plan, we cannot prioritise, and we cannot deliver in the best interest of our respective communities. So again, I commend the local governments of Queensland for being leaders of resilience and strength, who consistently highlight the views of their communities. Despite recent events, the devastating impacts of numerous floods and other natural disasters, Queenslanders are continually supported by the tenacity of you - their local representatives. 

I want to talk about regional telecommunications investment and the impact on your great state. We have heard local voices from mayors, councillors, businesses, industry and community groups in relation to regional telco investment. I want to assure you that the Albanese Government is committed to increasing that connectivity, bridging the digital divide, improving mobile coverage and protecting communities like yours against natural disasters. That is why in our October Budget, we are investing more than $2.2 billion to improve telecommunications across regional, rural and remote Australia. In fact, it is the single biggest investment in regional telecommunications since the advent of the National Broadband Network. The Better Connectivity Plan for Regional Rural Australia is a key part of this, and it provides over $656 million over five years to improve mobile and broadband connectivity and resilience. This plan, I can assure you, will deliver real outcomes for your constituents and work on this plan is already well underway. 

Earlier this year, the Government open the $160 million in combined grants for the process of Round Three of the Regional Connectivity Program and Round Seven of the Mobile Black Spot Program following a thorough public consultation process on the guidelines. Now, I understand also that the Queensland Government has earmarked $120 million for contributions to communications investment and this should stand you in good stead to enthusiastically participate in these Commonwealth funding rounds. 

I encourage you, your communities, to engage with telco providers to explore opportunities and develop proposals that can be used to improve connectivity in your areas through these initiatives. Applications are still open until the 12th of July.  

We've also just finished public consultation on the design of the $15 million Mobile Network Hardening Program, and $50 million for Telecommunications Disaster Resilience Innovation (TDRI). These programs will support and accelerate the development and deployment of innovative technologies and solutions to address known communications issues during natural disasters. 

It is our goal to improve the resilience of Australia's communications against prolonged outages caused by natural disasters and we've seen some of that work in your local areas, including Ipswich, Logan and Gympie. We've also just opened the expression of interest process to identify suppliers of a really important scheme that we announced in our October budget.  That's the On Farm Connectivity Program. It's a $30 million program that will enable primary producers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries to extend connectivity further on to their properties. It will help them to take advantage of connected machinery and sensor technology to improve efficiency and productivity. 

Again, for more information on these programs, I do encourage you to have a look at the Department of Communications website. Lastly, you may also be aware of a $2.4 billion that's been allocated to upgrading an additional 1.5 million premises nationally to receive high internet speeds. There's an additional $480 million that's been invested in upgrading the NBN fixed wireless network. What that's going to do is bring an additional 120,000 premises off the Skymuster Satellite and onto fixed wireless. I'm committed to improving communications for First Nations Australians and we've also got the funding and the program delivery to ensure we do just that as part of all of these schemes. 

I do also want to touch on a point that I have raised directly with the LGAQ, which is regarding the Powers and Immunities regime. As some of you may be aware, there's a provision in the Telecommunications Act that sets out the processes for deployment that telco infrastructure, and it was designed at a time when Telecom, not Telstra, Telecom was laying copper in the ground. That was basically the extent of communications investment at that time it was devised. I firmly believe, and I reckon we all do, that connectivity drives national productivity and providing opportunities for Australians regardless of where they live should be our shared goal. It is your job, of course, as local government representatives to ensure your communities aren't left behind. 

You're well aware of this and you advocate for it very strongly. And as Minister for Communications, it's my job to make sure Australians have access to a quality, reliable connection, where and when they need it. I'm committed to working with all three levels of government to provide our nation with faster and more affordable connectivity, different communities. So, for example, again, growth areas in the outer metropolitan suburbs present different challenges and opportunities, and each community requires a different solution. I know many of you have witnessed these changes firsthand when new estates get built and the capacity for mobile services is finite, and more is needed. People expect it, they expect that they will have a reliable mobile service, irrespective of where they live and irrespective of whether or not they're in a new or an established suburb. They expect that they will have water, electricity, and they also expect that they will have mobile connectivity. Now, given the complexity of these issues, and how passionate all the different stakeholders are, I've been very focused on ensuring greater consultation and engagement that must have that outcome of improving connectivity. We are now taking steps to streamline the deployment of infrastructure to reflect the fact that mobile communication is now essential in economic and social inclusion.  As I said, the Powers and Immunities Framework is an excellent example. It's an important enabler of the communications infrastructure. But what it does illustrate is that we need to approach reform in a balanced and multifaceted way. On one hand, we need to acknowledge the importance of mobile communications. But we also need to recognise the key roles and legitimate interests of states, territories and local governments, and of course, property owners in relation to planning frameworks and approvals. 

Now, you may be aware, the Powers and Immunities Reference Group had, unfortunately stalled. In response to a question from the LGA regarding a process, I appointed an independent mediator to assist the group in working through the complex issues on its agenda. This was successful in progressing two of the three major issues on the agenda; namely the removal of redundant facilities, and tighter processes for carriers to access buildings to undertake their work. The third issue, the deployment of multifunction poles or small cells, is understandably proven to be more challenging. But I want to assure you that we will not move forward without extensive opportunities for consultation, but we must move forward.

The other area, as I said, that is of increasing concern is how mobile infrastructure deployment and can keep pace with that rapid growth in urban, peri urban, and regional centres. As I said, too often, it seems that mobile services are an afterthought, we go back in and try to retrofit solutions. We need to plan this well in advance. Local government needs to be involved well in advance of population growth. Just as you would expect to see towards connection for water, electricity or a waste system. The other complicating factor, of course, is that mobile infrastructure can take years to deploy. So a reactive approach often leaves communities with inadequate coverage for sustained periods of time. I've indicated to the states and territories that this requires careful focus and collaboration to ensure that balance. State and territory planning frameworks don't currently seem to put councils and communities in a position where mobile infrastructure can be planned in advance like those other utilities. 

What I'm going to do shortly is commence discussions with the states and territories. I look forward to your input and your engagement on a process which strikes a better balance in the interest of our communities. Our last thing I really want to talk about is my good friend and colleague, the Minister Kristy McBain. She shares my passion for connecting regions and amplifying the voices of local governments. Having both come from local office to now ministers in the Albanese Government, we are both very proud of the goals that we have. We take them very seriously and again, we work collaboratively. We are also very proud to be women in office and women driven by disrupting outdated dynamics. For the first time in Australian history, we have a majority female government. 

I extend an extra thanks to the dedication of female local government representatives who are here today. Queensland local governments continue to do a remarkable and essential job. It's demonstrated time and again what can be achieved when we've worked collaboratively across all levels of governments and effectively engaged in our communities. I never forget that all politics are local. 

Much like you, I want our communities to be strong. I want them to be resilient and to be connected and I want them to be prepared.  I look forward to continuing the partnership that the Albanese government firmly believes is essential. Thank you so much for the opportunity.