Cape York is joining the chorus of regional and remote communities across Australia fed up with the lack of telecommunications.
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The region’s peak tourism organisation, Tourism Cape York, is leading a renewed push to see better telecommunications in the region, and has launched a survey.
Parent organisation Cape York Sustainable Futures lobbied for improved mobile coverage more than 10 years ago and sees better telecommunications crucial to unlocking potential in the bush.
Cape York Sustainable Futures chief executive officer Trish Butler said a large number of telecommunication towers remained unused in the region along the length of the Peninsula Developmental Road (PDR).
"People honestly wouldn't believe it if you told them that they could have phone and internet coverage all the way from Laura to the Tip driving along the PDR," Mrs Butler said.
"We have routinely been pushing for better outcomes for telecommunications and we have had success in the past.
“With the new Developing Northern Australia initiatives we see that better telecommunications is one of the crucial building blocks to unlocking the bush - how else will people be able to do and co-ordinate better businesses.”
Mrs Butler said on a recent trip on the PDR to the Torres Strait it became abundantly clear that members are growing sick and tired of the lack of standardised phone services.
TCY is preparing to launch a rigorous campaign to continue to lobby the Federal Government and Telstra for better coverage in the Cape, highlighting a past cost-effective telecommunications plan for the region which was presented to the government.
"We will show the government and Telstra our plan again and hopefully with the recent collaborative push to reinvigorate rural industries this time they might listen to what the locals need and want,” Mrs Butler said.
“With the infrastructure already existing our plan is cost-effective. All they need to do is flick the switch and make the existing and unused towers operational. There are also many tourists traversing the PDR with visitation growing by about 20 per cent a year.
"If you can get full reception in the middle of the Torres Strait on a boat, you should be able to get adequate services in remote communities in Cape York where the population outweigh those on the islands.
“For example, on Seisia next to Bamaga you can barely get reception whereas in Bamaga and literally metres from leaving the Seisia jetty on a ferry, you can get full service. It begs the question as to why this is the case.”
CYSF is encouraging Cape residents to tell their telecommunications woes by completing a brief survey here
