Interview with David Iliffe, ABC Southern Queensland

DAVID ILIFFE, HOST: In 86 days, Telstra will pull the plug on the 3G mobile phone network across the country. We've been talking about this quite a bit lately, but it's highly relevant at the moment. It seems that though more than half a million Australians living in regional areas are either blissfully unaware that it's about to take place or they're just chronic procrastinators. But either way, if they don't act soon, they're in for a bit of a shock.
 
If they happen to be with Optus, then they might have grace. If they happen to have chosen Vodafone, the shutdown has probably already taken effect, although they might not have noticed, because in regional and remote parts of the country, you probably wouldn't have chosen that carrier anyway.
 
The biggest problem, though, is a large number of users who use 4G phones. They have upgraded their phone, but should they need to call Triple Zero, their phones will still optimise for the 3G network to make that call because their phone isn't equipped to use a system called voice over LTE. What's happening to alleviate that problem? Well, let's find out. Michelle Rowland is Federal Communications Minister. She joins me on the line. Minister Michelle Rowland, good morning. Welcome.
 
MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Good morning.
 
ILIFFE: Can I talk about the 3G switch off at the moment? Firstly, because it is imminent: I think it's something like about 83 days or 86 days away that telcos will pull the plug - slightly longer if people happen to be with Optus. But can I ask you, it all seemed to be going smoothly until it's been uncovered that even some people in regional areas who have upgraded their phone or their equipment they use to 4G might still find themselves in trouble when the 3G network switches off. If they want to dial Triple Zero because of this, their phone may not have voice over LTE. How are the powers that be wrestling with this and how could they not see that coming?
 
ROWLAND: It is an area of concern, David, and as you rightly point out, the existing 3G networks of Optus and Telstra will be closed around 1 September this year. Vodafone closed its network earlier this year for the 3G switchover, but we, as a Government, support this switchover. It means that better uses of technology - like 4G and 5G - will be deployed and that will result in a greater consumer experience for data capacity, speed and reliability.
 
But as a Government, we think it needs to be done in a safer way. It came to light earlier this year that there is a subset of 4G handsets that use 4G for voice and data and would otherwise work perfectly fine when the switchover occurs. But the manufacturer of these phones has actually configured the device to use the 3G network for calls to Triple Zero. So, when you think about it, David, if you've got a 3G phone when the switchover happens, you won't be able to use that phone from day one. So, it will be readily apparent that it needs to be upgraded. But if you've got a 4G handset, you won't know until you actually need to call Triple Zero that it doesn't work.
 
And we had identified earlier in the year that there were some 740,000 devices that were potentially impacted. So, what we did was set up a Working Group between industry and formulated a strategy to have regular reporting to Government about how these issues were being communicated to the public, and what the mobile network operators were doing.
 
And I'm very pleased to say, David - this is a first to be reported to your good listeners - that that number has actually come down in that time to 303,000. So, it's a substantial drop. People are getting the message about it, but there's certainly more work to be done. And if I can put out, please, a public service announcement: if your listeners are with Telstra or Optus, what they can do is text ‘3’ to the number ‘3498’. So, texting ‘3’ to ‘3498’ and they will be able to find out if their device is impacted.
 
ILIFFE: All right, simple as that. Now, moving on. Late last year, the Federal Government launched its On Farm Connectivity Program, giving farmers access to smart farming technology. This is a scheme worth $30 million. What's the uptake rate been for that scheme so far?
 
ROWLAND: We've now completed Round 1 of the On Farm Connectivity Program, and it’s the first time that a Government has actually offered this sort of subsidy program to support ag-tech connectivity solutions. And it was oversubscribed; it actually had a very high uptake. $15 million worth of grant applications were received in Round 1 and we will be very pleased in the near future to be launching Round 2 with another $15 million worth of grants.
 
Just to give your listeners some idea of what this supports: this kind of ag-tech is about using smart systems to do everything from optimising soil quality, monitoring livestock, improving efficiency of water use, remote screening of water tank levels, streamlining farming logistics. It's a whole range of issues that can be addressed through this kind of Ag-tech connectivity.
 
So, looking forward again to having a lot of Queenslanders applying for that. Just to give you a sense, in Queensland alone, we had 283 primary production businesses who purchased connectivity equipment under this program and it's really incentivised nearly $6 million in connectivity equipment across Queensland. It's the first time it's been done. It just shows how innovative and how ready to adapt farmers and primary producers are. It's a real investment in the future of Australian farming and ag, and I really look forward to opening Round 2 later this year and encourage all your listeners to keep an eye out for that.
 
ILIFFE: Just very quickly, Minister, I know you're quite tied on time, but some community resilience projects have just been announced. Tell me about those. I must admit, I have not caught this in the news. Tell me more.
 
ROWLAND: Well, what we've got here is an understanding that we need to have greater resilience of our critical infrastructure, particularly across regional Australia where unfortunately, we know, especially in Queensland the brunt is often born of natural disasters. We know that they become more frequent and unfortunately more severe as well.
 
What we have recently been able to announce is that through a program under the Albanese Government called Mobile Network Hardening, we have had some $1.6 million allocated to 40 projects across Queensland. And they include a back-up generator that will provide around five to seven days of backup power in Roma.
 
What this is designed to do is to mitigate the impacts of outages during natural disasters, because we know that communications can be the difference between life and death. Not only during the disaster itself, but also the response and recovery phase, it's really important to make sure that we can extend the life of those comms networks for as long as possible during the disaster and afterwards as well. We need to make sure that that is happening. We've seen a large number of projects delivered under this program. We know that no network can never be 100% disaster proof but really what this is about is about strengthening the resilience and reducing the risk that may be posed to people and to property during natural disasters.
 
ILIFFE: Well, as we approach another storm season, which, you know, the prediction is that things are only as you alluded to: going to get worse, I think there's a certain comfort there in communities that have found themselves without communication post disaster one too many times. So, that is great news, Minister, I will let you go. I appreciate your time for a chat this morning.
 
ROWLAND: Absolute pleasure. Thank you.