Today at Miena, a full room of community members, emergency service workers and business owners gathered calling for basic, affordable and essential digital connectivity services in the region.
In rural Tasmania, telecommunications customers are paying full price for a second rate, often non-existent, service.
Not only is coverage bad, but it has declined over the past few years with ‘upgrades’ creating worse connectivity than was originally available.
The community and emergency services shared frightening stories of often not being able to contact triple zero, or share vital information with police, fire and SES.
The Lakes community’s comments echoed issues shared at the Tasman Peninsula telecommunications community meeting earlier this year.
The stories of local businesses experiencing intermittent connectivity – and at times not being able to take payments – is a too well told story right across the state, in particular along the East Coast in peak tourism season.
It’s shameful that at today’s meeting state Liberal Government members were more absent than rural internet and phone services. It isn’t good enough, especially when they’re most needed for lobbying and collaboration with other levels of Government and stepping up state investment into digital services.
This is the same Liberal Government stripping essential funding from Online Access Centres. At a time these essential services most need to be reinvigorated and upscaled, instead they’re being forced to close to help pay for the stadium. If the Liberals gave these vital centres the same attention as private AI data centres, Tasmania would have thriving digital literacy and more equitable access.
While it is recognised not every corner of the state can receive full digital coverage, we can and should see equitable access to digital services for all Tasmanians.
Several service and handset options that are available for greater connectivity are financially out of reach of many Tasmanians, and there is no guarantee that the technology will work in rural areas.
The telecommunications organisations present today should be commended for showing up and listing to the community but more needs to be done.
In 2025, Tasmania should be clean, green, and connected. Digital connectivity is an essential service. We must see all levels of government work to ensure Tasmania has affordable, consistent digital connectivity.
Tasmania needs this Liberal Government to urgently step up its action bridging the digital divide before our state, especially our regional communities, fall further behind.
