Rob Mitchell
I hope you have all had a great Christmas and new year and a relaxing break over the festive period.
2020 was indeed a shocker of a year. The first thing I want to do is offer my thanks to all the front-line workers who got us through these difficult times. Cleaners, health care staff, aged care workers, supermarket shop assistants – and every other essential worker who powered on through difficult and stressful conditions.
You did an amazing job and we won’t forget your hard work.
Unfortunately COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our lives – our health, our family and social life; restricting travel; and impacting employment, business and the economy.
We’ve had to make huge changes to how we work, educate our children, shop and generally live our lives.
Sadly, something in the McEwen electorate that hasn’t changed is our poor mobile phone service and internet connection.
We had terrible problems before the pandemic, but now they’ve been magnified tenfold.
People in our communities have long struggled to conduct their small business from home or study online or stay up to date during bushfire season.
But the necessity of lockdown, combined with appalling internet and mobile phone services, pushed some families to the brink.
It was almost impossible for children to keep up with remote learning; for parents to work from home; and to keep up vital communications with family and friends – all under one roof.
In some households, they were almost competing against members of their own family for what little connectivity they have in our ridiculously under-serviced area.
There are mobile phone blackspots right across the McEwen electorate. We have all experienced the frustrating lack of phone signal.
It’s been so much worse with lockdown and social distancing. Phone calls for many people have been their only social interaction for long periods.
It’s bad enough if you want to contact a family member, a friend, a business, a school. But it’s disastrous in an emergency.
And in our area, we know well that the need for mobile phone services is never greater than during the bushfire season.
I have been lobbying the Liberal National Government since 2010 about the real problems and terrifying risks we face due to mobile phone black spots. The government is well aware of our plight yet continues to ignore our needs.
Across five rounds of the Mobile Blackspot Funding Program, Gisborne South, Bullengarook and Riddells Creek – to name just a few of the areas in McEwen without adequate connectivity – all have been left out.
This is a massive disappointment for our community, and an ongoing hazard.
I will continue to press the Coalition government on this.
Our community deserves better.
