ADAM STEPHEN, HOST: Countless people have died in Australia over the years, perishing after becoming lost in the bush or the Outback without any way to contact the outside world. That could become a thing of the past, courtesy of a major change coming for Australia, which would allow you to make calls or send SMS messages wherever you could see the sky, regardless of whether your mobile provider had a tower nearby or not. New laws introduced to Federal Parliament today would force major providers to deliver nationwide voice and SMS coverage to a mix of towers and low orbit satellite technology. And it could be a game changer for Queenslanders living in mobile black spots, as well as during times of extreme weather and natural disasters. And I spoke with the Federal Minister for Communications, Anika Wells.

[Excerpt – Interview]

MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS ANIKA WELLS: Today we've taken an important step towards making Australians better connected than ever, particularly our regional friends, introducing our landmark Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation legislation here in the Federal Parliament. Those laws are about regional and rural Australia and making mobile connectivity accessible almost everywhere you can look up and see the sky. So, the laws set in place a framework so that as LEO satellite technology grows, the framework is there to support it. 

STEPHEN: Up to 5 million extra square kilometres of coverage is what you're expecting. Where would you think people would notice the biggest difference? 

WELLS: Well, I think for us, our focus has been people who need to access SMS and voice when they're on remote roads, travelling between different pockets, and people who live in proper remote areas. So, the difference should be that compared to now, where you're reliant upon what your terrestrial mobile network does, because there'll be satellites supporting the network, you should be able to connect to SMS or voice anywhere you can see the sky, which is a significant step forwards for people I know who have waited a long time. 

STEPHEN: We have significant mobile black spots still in Queensland, and would you expect or anticipate that this would not completely remove the black spots but at least allow some service for people that live in black spot areas? 

WELLS: Yes it should improve coverage for those people it won't be a hundred per cent effective or a hundred per cent coverage, but nearly there. And we anticipate that starting from 1 December 2027, because this is all quite new emerging technology. But we want the framework in place, and we want the obligations on telcos in place, so as this becomes more prevalent, people's coverage should improve and their service that they receive from their telcos will improve. 

STEPHEN: We'll just use the most recent example of the big North Queensland flood earlier this year, when Ingham was really badly impacted by floods and residents lost their mobile access, mainly because they lost their power and eventually the towers ran out of power, then they ran out of fuel for the generators, and then there was no mobile service for days until those towers could actually be restocked or replenished. During natural disasters, how do you anticipate this new system is going to keep people connected or allow them to be connected where previously they might not have been? 

WELLS: Well, I think no infrastructure, including our communications network, is 100 per cent resilient. We all know that. Many of us have felt that personally. But UOMO will provide vital SMS and voice mobile connectivity in 70 per cent of the continent where there was previously none at all. And I think that's particularly relevant for people who are living and working and visiting regional and remote Australia and people who are doing that in emergencies. And that's not obviously the only thing that we're doing in this space. We've been doing a lot of work to try and strengthen Triple Zero, and what you've said, particularly in your question, I think is a wicked problem. And that's why I went to the conference of state energy ministers recently to try and begin a better process about working through that chicken and egg scenario, like you say, where power goes down, which means phone lines go down, and vice versa. 

STEPHEN: Hearing from Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells on a day where legislation has been introduced that could see, in the not-too-distant future, Australians having some form of mobile coverage no matter where they were, so long as they could see the sky. You're not saying everywhere across the continent, Anika Wells. Why is it that there might be some areas that aren't covered by this? 

WELLS: Well, for example, if you live in the valleys of regional Victoria and you're out bushwalking and you're going through caves, that would be an example of where this would not help you because you would not necessarily have a clear line through to the sky. Perhaps where you're in the bush where the tree density limits your ability to see the sky. These are examples, but like you can see from the examples, for the vast majority of people who are needing this coverage, who are on their properties or on roads in rural remote Australia, this is going to be a significant step forward in the coverage they receive. 

STEPHEN: It's not going to be everything that you might anticipate when you've got your full mobile coverage. Things like uploading or downloading from the internet, videos, that kind of stuff, Minister, won't be available under this? 

WELLS: That's right. We would love to move to include data, but we aren't there yet. But what we hope is with setting out this framework, it allows with emerging technology, when those things advance, that those things can be considered in due course. And obviously we'd try to do that as soon as we could. 

STEPHEN: Every year we lose lives out in the Outback where people, their car breaks down, you know, they head off on foot to try and find help and sadly they perish. It would be a rare year that doesn't happen somewhere in Queensland. Would this technology actually make search and rescues easier, Minister Wells? If people's mobiles are going to be- presuming that they're powered up, that they've got power, if they're going to have connectivity in these really remote areas, presumably they're going to be able to contact emergency services much easier. 

WELLS: That's right. In theory, that is exactly what this should do. It should improve both quality of life and opportunities for people. And then that reactive situation, like you're talking about, where people get stuck unexpectedly without a satellite phone or whatever they'd usually be using to cover themselves in the situation. So I do think it sets a standard. It sets rules and benchmarks to improve services for people from our telcos. And I think it's a really positive step forward. And lots of your listeners, I think, would be familiar with using Sky Muster or other elements. This is all that emerging technology. But laws have to keep up with that to make sure that people can still expect a particular standard of service from the companies that are operating in our country, and that's what these laws set out to do. 

[End of Excerpt]

STEPHEN: That's the Federal Communications Minister, Anika Wells.