Interview with ABC Radio Darwin

RICK HIND, HOST: The Regional Telco Review has held hearings in Katherine and Darwin this week to ask Territorians what can be done to improve mobile phone service, reception, and telecommunications connectivity in this part of the world.

Carol Bennett, the CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), urged Territorians who feel let down to eyeball people conducting the review. 

[Excerpt]

CAROL BENNETT: If you have concerns about this issue, if you want to see it addressed, this is your chance to go up there, talk to the people doing this Review, and let them know and let the Federal Government know that this is a huge issue for Territorians.

HIND: Michelle Rowland is the Federal Communications Minister. Michelle Rowland, when we spoke to Carol this week, we were flooded with calls and texts from people who live not far from Darwin who say their mobile reception is poor to non-existent. What can the Federal Government do to improve their service?

MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Well, there's a few things there. Firstly, ACCAN is absolutely right in terms of the Government, and also this Regional Telco Review wants to hear directly from people. It's actually a requirement in the law that this review be undertaken as an independent assessment of existing and future telco needs across regional, rural, and remote Australian communities. It’s coming at a really opportune time. It's the same time as the Albanese Government is looking at designing and implementing one of the biggest areas of reform, which is to our Universal Service regime.

There’re probably three things here: firstly, we know how important mobile connectivity is - it’s not nice to have, it's absolutely essential. In regional and remote areas in particular, it can be the difference between life and death when accessing emergency services. 

The second point is we know that new technologies are emerging, and this is one of the areas that came out in the public consultations this week. People understand that there's new technologies like LeoSats - Low Earth Orbit Satellites - but they do have their pros and cons. For example, some of it is quite costly, and whilst it can provide some solutions with rain fade and extreme weather conditions that are experienced in remote areas, they do have their limitations.

The third part is around that emergency management - the redundancy and resilience of telecommunications, especially during wet seasons and the different climatic conditions that are experienced in the territories. There's a really strong call for improving that resilience to ensure that essential services - particularly emergency services, can be accessed.

This is all feeding into this Review, and it's not a case of just gathering it and doing nothing with it. As a Government, we've committed over $2.2 billion towards regional communications. It's the single biggest amount that a government has committed. We're rolling that out now through a number of ways with the telcos, including mobile black spot funding, ensuring that there is on-farm connectivity improvements, but also some specific bespoke projects that might be available to assist particular communities.

With the National Broadband Network, we're providing free community Wi-Fi to a number of remote areas, which will not only improve broadband access but also mobile access.

There is a lot happening, but my key message for Territorians is this has been – and we want to thank everyone who's contributed - really insightful. We're not going to just sit on this. As a Government, we are reforming ‘universal service’. We are powering ahead with what more we can do to improve regional connectivity. This is one of the key priorities for the Albanese Government.

HIND: The Universal Service Obligation was established when Telstra was Telecom and it applies to landlines. You're considering updating it to more recent technologies. What should it apply to and when will you make a decision about that?

ROWLAND: We've been consulting for the past 12 months, or so, on this, including not only the scope of services, but how it's funded. Currently, Telstra is the Universal Service provider. Their contract is due to come to a conclusion in the near future, and it's important for us to be ready for when that happens and to be engaging across the telcos and with the National Broadband Network as well.

One of the key things here is, exactly as you say, is that is was designed at a time when telecommunications was voiced over a fixed-line that was in the ground. We now know how important mobile connectivity is. We need the flexibility to be able to include broadband services and data as well as voice. So, this has been a really important ongoing process. How this is funded will be important as well.

HIND: The key word there is universal. There'd be a lot of places in Australia where if you provide a universal service, there wouldn't be much money to be made. It would be expensive to provide, and there wouldn't be many people who'd need it.

ROWLAND: Well, the case at the moment is that we have areas of Australia that are unprofitable to service, but, as a Government, we recognise how important it is to provide those services to them. So we are looking at what funding options are available, and how it can be delivered.

One of the key issues that's come out and has been really instructive from the Regional Telco Review as well - and we've seen in recent months, in particular, where communities have been cut off in remote areas – is how long it has taken for the telcos to get in there and make the necessary fixes. Sometimes it's been well over a week.

In some cases that is really a function of the kind of disaster that there is. But the reliability and the need to make sure that we have the best resilience in place has really been a strong message from these communities. It's not enough simply that you have the service, it's that it's capable of functioning, particularly in light of disasters that, unfortunately, are becoming more frequent and more impactful.

HIND: Sometimes the only phone that works in a remote community during a disaster is the public phone, which also has Wi-Fi. We've been talking to Telstra about that. But the 3G switchover has been put back a couple of times now. We had a text this week that says even in the middle of Darwin, in Larrakia, people are getting good 3G and patchy 4G.

How prepared are Telstra and the Government for when this switch off actually happens, that there might be unexpected consequences?

ROWLAND: The Government supports the switchover happening because it's the way in which we get better services, and we get that evolution from 3G to 4G and 5G. Your listeners will remember we previously had other networks, the 2G networks were switched over, the CDMA network was switched over. 

It’s important that this is done in a safer way, and that's been the Government's primary objective here. The telcos have given undertakings that they will have equivalence of coverage in these areas once the switchover occurs.

But one of the other key areas is the kinds of devices that will be compatible and able to operate after the switchover happens. One of the things that we have been monitoring very closely is the capacity for devices to be able to call Triple Zero in an emergency. We found out earlier in the year that there were a number of devices that operate perfectly fine on the 4G network when the switchover would occur, but the manufacturer had configured these mobiles to use the 3G network for Triple Zero calls. So you wouldn't actually know that it didn't work until you went to make the call, and that was unacceptable.

We had estimates of around 740,000 devices earlier in the year. I'm pleased to say that the Government working with industry, that that number is now down Australia-wide to around 67,000. But it's not only those mobile devices that we use for voice and data, it's also connected devices like medical alarms and smart watches that may rely on 3G connectivity. 

We are very pleased that there is going to be an intense public education campaign as we get towards the shutdown date of 28 October. I urge all of your listeners to text the number ‘3’ to ‘3498’ on their mobile services to make sure that their phone is not affected. This will give them an instantaneous response to see if their phone is going to be compatible after the switchover. 

I urge everyone to check with your provider, your medical alarm provider, smartwatch provider, any other connected devices, because this is really the first switchover where we've got what we call the Internet of Things – so many different devices that are connected to mobile technology. 

As we get towards 28 October, people have been getting notifications for some time now. The telcos actually announced (the switchover) in 2019, and as we get to that crunch date, it's really important that people don't ignore the calls, don't ignore the warnings from their providers or their mobile network operators. They really do need to act now, and I urge all your listeners to do that.

HIND: This is the final extension. It will be 28 October, that's the shut off date?

ROWLAND: That's the date that the telcos have announced. I have the ability as Minister, if I choose to make a Determination, that that be extended. That's subject to a period of public consultation and other rules. But I'm pleased to see that the network operators have made that decision independently. They are working towards that date. 

Look, Australians have always been early adopters. This is the way in which we refarm spectrum, we get better services. It's actually better for regional Australia to have those services compatible with what people have got in metro areas as well. But I urge everyone – again, my key take out here is check your device.

HIND: There's been a lot of discussion about gambling advertising bans, but will the Government introduce a national online gambling regulator as recommended by Peta Murphy's report, as well as by the Alliance for Gambling Reform? Lauren Levine from Financial Counselling Australia says: the current state and territory regulations are failing.

[Excerpt]

LAUREN LEVINE: Each State has its own gambling regulator, so operators choose what jurisdiction they want to be licenced in. We've got every man and his dog having a gambling licence, and most of the big companies are licenced in the Northern Territory because it's a low tax jurisdiction and it's known for being very industry friendly.

[End of excerpt]

HIND: Why is the NT Racing Commission left to regulate 28 online gambling companies like Sportsbet, which are domiciled in the NT but operating across Australia?

ROWLAND: Well, I think if we step back for a minute, this is an issue that impacts on States and Territories. Yes, it was a recommendation from Peta Murphy's report. We're considering all of these recommendations very carefully. Some of them go across state and territory jurisdictions and will be the subject of more consultation by Minister Amanda Rishworth, who is responsible for what is essentially the next iteration of the National Consumer Protection Framework. 

But the comments that have been made are understandable. It is important that we get gambling regulation right in this country. We know that the harms that are caused in this area don't only come from advertising, they come from a number of areas. The Government is focused on harm prevention and minimisation. We have implemented a wide suite of reforms to date, but we are considering very closely that recommendation. We are consulting with States and Territories on this. And the key issue here, as I said, is to deliver harm reduction but also cultural change. The current status, particularly in relation to advertising, the Government has said is unsustainable. We’re determined to make reforms in this area that go to keeping Australians safe.

HIND: Recommendation one is responsibility for online gambling. Harm reduction is held by a single Australian Government minister. You've mentioned Minister Rishworth, but is it important that one minister have carriage of this issue?

ROWLAND: Well, again, this involves the States and Territories who have particular powers at the moment. And of course, that would need to be subject to consultation with them. But again, I make the point that the Federal Government does have a degree of jurisdiction in this area – that includes in relation to advertising; that includes in relation to credit cards. We've already banned the use of credit cards for online wagering. We've also introduced BetStop, which is that single, one-touch self-exclusion mechanism. So the States and Territories each have roles in this area. And we want to work together to get the most effective regime that we have that does achieve those objectives of harm prevention and minimisation.

HIND: Is it important not to mis-characterise people's positions on this, though? The Prime Minister in Question Time said that Tim Costello from the Association for Gambling Reform was keen to ban all gambling. I've spoken to Mr Costello several times and he- that is not his position. He's upset about it. Here's what he's had to say. 

A lot of Australians want a permanent ban on all online gambling advertising. They're not against gambling. Why can't the Labor Government seem to deliver that?

ROWLAND: Well, we're consulting on a model at the moment because we understand that reform is needed in this area. We're being guided by three key principles here: the first is to protect children and to break that nexus between sport and wagering. We want to deliver cultural change as well as optical change here, and we also want to ensure that we address the saturation of advertising, particularly as that is directed towards what is a really vulnerable cohort, and that's young men aged around 18 to 35. So we're pursuing that at the moment. 

We have been undertaking, as I said, detailed consultation, including with harm-reduction advocates. I'm very grateful for the consultation that's been done to date. We have said that the current status is untenable and we need change in this area, but we also know that advertising alone is not the only way for harm prevention and minimisation. 

We've got the other measures that I have announced, including in relation to credit card banning that the Government's already implemented, including implementing BetStop, which has some 28,000 Australians registered already. We'll continue to make reforms in this area, and we want to get this done as a Government because we know it's important to the Australian people. 

We're going about it in a methodical way because the last time this area was touched by the previous government, it actually resulted in an increase in wagering advertising. We need to avoid those unintended consequences. We need this to be effective, and that's what the Government is determined to deliver.

HIND: Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, thanks for making time for us.

ROWLAND: My pleasure.