May 20, 2024
The Federal Government plans to axe the popular Mobile Black Spot Program in three years, Member for Flynn Colin Boyce has warned.
Mr Boyce said the government had also cut ongoing funding for other key regional communications infrastructure programs in its recent Budget.
Budget papers show funding for the Mobile Black Spot Program (MBSP) will finish in 2026-27, with zero dollars allocated for 2027-28.
The government had also allocated no funding in 2027-28 for the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia, which supports a range of programs including on-farm connectivity and the Regional Tech Hub.
“The Albanese Government used the Mobile Black Spot Program for political purposes in the lead up to the last election when they made numerous promises for Labor seats,” Mr Boyce said.
“It’s no surprise that the Auditor-General carried out an investigation into Labor’s Round 6 funding of the MBSP and we look forward to his report on that affair, later this month.”
Mr Boyce said the Budget papers showed plans to ramp up funding for mobile connectivity ahead of the next election, before it falls away.
Funding for the Better Connectivity Plan will more than double from $101.8 million in 2023-24 to $228.4 million in 2024-25.
Funding for the Mobile Black Spot Program will nearly triple, from $17.5 million in 2023-24 to $45.9 million in 2024-25.
However, all three programs receive zero funding in 2027-28.
The Mobile Blackspot Program has been running since 2015 and by the time it winds up in 2027 it will have clocked up 12 years of investment in eradicating the nation’s mobile phone black spots. In recent years I’ve noticed improvements in our region’s black spots so perhaps the last of our bad coverage areas could be gone by 2027.