Since she announced her candidacy on September 18, Ms Milthorpe has begun touring the electorate and says she has already highlighted significant gaps in community representation, which has only served to cement her determination to offer choice in Farrer.
“I have spent the last week travelling the electorate, listening to people in Griffith, Hillston, Deniliquin and Hay, to learn about their experiences as well as their needs from their federal representative,” Ms Milthorpe said.
“Telecommunications stress has been a consistent theme across the regional electorate in my conversations with Farrer communities.
“While this issue has had some airtime recently in Jindera and Splitters Creek just outside of Albury, the long-standing challenges of poor to no telecommunication services are far more broadly felt across the electorate.”
It was more than 12 years ago that the government identified the need for a mobile black spot funding program, as part of their 2011-2012 Regional Telecommunications Review.
It took until December 2015 before the first of the towers constructed under the program were switched on.
Nine years later, Ms Milthorpe said much of Farrer is still in the dark.
“I listened to the SES in Hillston tell me about the dangers of black spots not just to their volunteers, but also to the community they are trying to assist.
“They said there were times when people needed help out of range of telecommunication services, and when they weren’t where we believed them to be, our SES volunteers couldn’t contact them for further instruction because they had no access to service.
“The Rural Fire Service and Ambulance Services told me the same thing affected the efficacy and safety of their work. These black spots are literally putting lives at risk across Farrer.”
Ms Milthorpe said independent member for Indi Helen Haines has achieved great things for her rural and regional constituents through this Mobile Black Spot Program, with Indi ranking number one in Victoria and number four in Australia for funding allocation to address this issue.
Farrer is ranked number 22 on the national scale.
“The recent attention being given to only two locations right outside Albury is just too little, too late,” Ms Milthorpe declared.
“We deserve better.”
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