Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (17:50): My electorate of Gilmore on the New South Wales South Coast has certainly had its fair share of disasters in recent years, including the horrendous Black Summer bushfires.

Those fires impacted our region for weeks in December 2019 and January 2020. During the disaster, lives were lost; hundreds of homes were razed; businesses, farms, livestock and native bushland were destroyed; and community infrastructure was impacted.

I know, as we head into another high-fire-danger season, residents in my electorate are feeling very anxious about the elevated risk of another Black Summer. I've spoken with dozens of residents who lost their homes or who were left stranded with no way of contacting family members when the phones went down and the power went out.

They were frightened, isolated and unable to let their families know they were alive. Bushfire victims and local communities across Gilmore have been crying out for better communications capability.

They don't want to be left in the dark when the next disaster strikes. That's why I've been advocating strongly on behalf of my community for improved communications, especially during times of disaster.

I'm proud that this government is working hard to improve our comms systems by making infrastructure more resilient, with the recent upgrades to the Mount Wandera transmission station, the installation of composite power poles, and better satellite communications at our emergency centres.

We've got a new Australian fire danger rating system and AusAlert, the new national messaging system, to keep people informed. We've rolled out emergency noticeboards and bushfire safe havens in communities, and we've grown our aerial firefighting assets.

The $14 million Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters, or STAND, program funds satellite wi-fi in emergency evacuation centres and emergency coordination points, and the $50.3 million Mobile Network Hardening Program is upgrading and improving the resilience of Australia's mobile network telecommunications infrastructure.

Thanks to this government, towers are being built, batteries are being installed, reliable high-speed broadband is being rolled out and capacity is being increased.

From 1 October, people in Gilmore and right across the country will also have had access to temporary disaster roaming, or TDR, which can be switched on during times of disaster. It's reassuring to know that, if there's a fire, flood, storm or cyclone, people will still have access to calls and texts, and some basic data to use apps like iMessage and WhatsApp on their compatible smartphones.

We know there's more to do, but this is another very important tool we've added to help keep people in regional and rural areas safe, informed and connected when they need it most.

We're working closely with the three major telcos, Telstra, Optus and TPG, who are leading this technology, so that, when one provider goes down during an emergency, temporary disaster roaming can be activated.

TDR will automatically switch phones in the impacted area to another carrier's mobile network where it's available. This means that, if a town has a Telstra tower and an Optus tower and the Telstra tower goes down during a bushfire, Telstra customers can roam onto the Optus network for general voice, text and basic data, not just triple zero calls.

This would allow people to stay in touch with friends and family, keep up to date with emergency warnings, look for road closures and check the weather. The mobile network operators are responsible for activation decisions, which are made in accordance with agreed technical parameters, available coverage and network capacity constraints.

In situations where one mobile carrier has been hit by a natural disaster, it will contact another carrier to check network availability and, if available, request TDR to cover the impacted area.

This is a game changer.

The government has also recently passed legislation to create the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation, UOMO, which will require mobile network operators to provide nationwide baseline outdoor voice and text coverage where you can see the sky.

After years of neglect, I am so proud that we're getting on with strengthening our regional telecommunications system, with a $1 billion co-investment that we're rolling out over the next few years.