OPINION FOR THE WEEKLY TIMES | PUBLISHED ON 15 OCTOBER 2025
If you live in regional Australia, chances are you’ve had that feeling when your phone says “no service” just when you need it most.
Maybe you’re checking your kids made it onto the bus after school. Maybe you’ve broken down on the side of the road. Or maybe, like me, you’re just trying to reach your family during a storm to make sure they’re safe.
That’s not just frustrating – it’s dangerous.
In recent weeks, Australians have faced two major Optus outages. Hundreds of triple-zero calls failed, and at least three deaths have been linked to people unable to reach emergency services.
The Government has now introduced a bill to strengthen the triple-zero system. That’s a welcome move, but let’s be honest: it shouldn’t take tragedy to prompt these reforms.
As someone who represents an electorate spanning 29,187 square kilometres of regional Victoria, I know this problem isn’t new. People in Indi have lived with unreliable communications for years.
During the Black Saturday and Black Summer bushfires, lives depended on whether a phone call could get through. One couple from Buxton told me their landline saved them that day – but now, even that lifeline is gone. In 2025, they feel less confident they’ll get an emergency message than they did 15 years ago.
That’s simply unacceptable.
Under Independent representation, Indi has had a huge uplift in telecommunications infrastructure. We became the most successful Victorian electorate under the Mobile Blackspot Program, with more than 65 mobile towers built or upgraded since 2013.
But areas with poor coverage remain and that’s something I’m continuing to work on.
Part of the broader solution to regional telecommunications is ensuring every mobile tower in a high-risk area has at least 24 hours of backup power. It’s a relatively small investment, costed at around $159 million nationally, that could save lives when disasters hit.
Temporary disaster roaming is another common-sense solution. Right now, if your network goes down in a fire or flood, your phone doesn’t automatically switch to another provider – even if there’s a working tower nearby. That’s madness.
In the US, Canada and Chile, governments have already made emergency roaming standard practice. During natural disasters, phones connect to any available network, so no one is left isolated. Australia can and should do the same.
When disaster hits, you shouldn’t have to worry about which telco you’re with. You should know that your call will get through, and that vital emergency alerts will reach your phone.
The Government’s new legislation is a start, and I’m supporting it in the Parliament, but regional Australians can’t afford more delays. We need disaster roaming. We need longer-lasting backup power. And we need to stop treating connectivity as a luxury.
Because when the next bushfire, flood, or storm hits, mobile coverage could save lives.