Dial in the dark

By Russell Bennett
GEMBROOK residents fear potentially fatal mobile phone black spots may not be fixed for a further five years.
Two of the main roads in and out of the town have large network gaps – preventing mobile calls from desperate local residents on Code Red fire days.
Gembrook Township Committee president David Nickell said the community’s urgent calls for improved coverage could go unanswered by Telstra for up to five fire seasons, following a meeting he had with telco and La Trobe MP Laura Smyth last year.
And when contacted by the Gazette, neither Telstra or Ms Smyth refuted Mr Nickell’s comments.
He now says enough is enough.
“This was one of the big things out of the (Bushfires) Royal Commission – the importance of communication,” Mr Nickell said.
“We can’t just wait for a coroner’s inquest after someone has died because of this, because it will definitely happen.”
In addition to phone black spots on two of the town’s most travelled roads – Launching Place Road and Pakenham Road – some of the area’s most forested roads are also dangerously in the dark.
Mt Eirene Road, Bessie Creek Road, Morbey Road, Beenak East Road, and Livio Drive all have black spots, as does Le Souef Road in the town centre.
But fire danger is not the only thing on residents’ minds. Mobile phones are heavily relied on in other emergencies including car and motorbike crashes, and snake bites.
While Gembrook has a population of about 1800 people, that number can swell drastically during events such as Cuborees at Gilwell Park, and riding days through Kurth Kiln and the Bunyip State Park.
When Gembrook CFA volunteer Craig Moore was the first on scene at an incident at the Shiprock Falls tourist hotspot on Launching Place Road in 2008, he had no mobile coverage.
Fortunately Parks Victoria representatives were not far behind him and they had to use their radios to contact the police.
Mr Nickell pleaded for Gembrook residents to contact Telstra and urge the telco giant to speed up the process for increased phone reception.
But Telstra has failed to allay residents’ fears.
“While there are no current plans to augment mobile coverage in this area at this time,” a spokesman said.
“Telstra will continue to review potential network upgrades in the area as part of our ongoing network investment planning.”
According to Telstra’s figures, its ‘Next G’ network covers more than 99 per cent of the Australian population, but that does not mean 99 per cent of the country’s land mass.
Ms Smyth said she was aware of locals’ concerns and said she shared them.
“I have made representations on their behalf to both the Minister for Communications and Telstra,” she said.
“I also facilitated meetings with senior Telstra officers with the Gembrook Township Committee.
“At the meeting in March last year, Telstra advised that they were considering placement of phone towers in the region in accordance with their usual business case assessment.
“In making a decision to extend coverage to a particular area, carriers will consider a range of factors, including site availability, cost structures, likely levels of demand from users and overall economic viability of the service.”
Both Ms Smyth and CFA spokesman Gerard Scholten said mobile phone communication was only one of the ways in which emergency services could warn residents of impending fire danger.
Ms Smyth said the range of warning measures also included television, radio, public address systems, sirens and signage.