Of 27 mobile phone towers planned for the South East, Telstra only ever earmarked two for the Naracoorte Lucindale Council area, with parts of districts like Callendale, Spence and others remaining without services.

As Telstra, since 2011, is a private company with service obligations to rural and regional people, the council opted following a 6-4 vote – not to put $140,185 of ratepayer funds into the telco giant’s project.

The $27.7m project called for taxpayer and ratepayer funding $15m from the federal government, $5.5m from the state government, and $1.38m from the region’s seven councils, with Telstra contributing around $6.9m – 25 percent of the total project cost.

Independent member for MacKillop Nick McBride received incorrect advice about the council’s decision. This led him to falsely claim in an article Councils are struggling’ that the lack of financial support resulted in Naracoorte Lucindale getting only two towers, not four.

Mr McBride last week apologised for the confusion.

Mayor Patrick Ross issued a statement to set the record straight, which appeared in The [Naracoorte] News on July 9.

The council also reflected on Mr McBride’s comments at its July 22 meeting, following a question on notice from Cr Cameron Grundy.

Referring to that article, Cr Grundy said: “As it is reported, local member Nick McBride pontificates about many topics including the Naracoorte Lucindale Council.

“And I quote: `Coming to Naracoorte, they have a strong council for standing on their own feet; they really are trying to manage things and stick to their knitting, but on the same side of the token, I saw them ignore a mobile telephone development that had local councils, state government, federal government, the forestry sector and the local telco, Telstra roll out 27 towers, and Naracoorte Lucindale Council decided this wasn’t their charter. So, he said Naracoorte Lucindale missed out on four towers; they got only two.”

Cr Grundy asked: “Has Telstra reduced the number of towers intended for the Naracoorte Lucindale Council area from four towers to two towers due to Naracoorte Lucindale Council declining Telstra’s request for funds to subsidise its 27 tower project, as suggested by local member for MacKillop Nick McBride, to The [Naracoorte] News newspaper edition of 25 June 2025?”

CEO Kelly Westell replied that following Mr McBride’s comments in the Naracoorte News, Telstra’s regional general manager (Michael Patterson) was asked to confirm the information.

“His advice is that: ‘Two mobile base stations were earmarked for Naracoorte Lucindale during the entirety of the project’.”

In response, Mr McBride last week said he welcomed the significant investment by federal, state, and local governments — along with industry — in delivering 27 new mobile towers across our region.

“I previously believed that Naracoorte Lucindale Council was allocated four towers but only received two due to a lack of local government investment,” Mr McBride said.

“I have since been advised this was incorrect, and I apologise for any confusion caused.

“Reliable mobile coverage is critical, and I remain committed to working with all levels of government and providers to ensure our region gets the mobile infrastructure it needs.”

Regarding the whereabouts of the 27 towers, Mr McBride queried the premier Peter Malinauskas in state parliament on June 18, asking “when will we see the rollout of the first 27 mobile phone towers that were promised to my electorate back in 2023?”.

“We have funding commitments from three tiers of government but still no announcement on when the first towers will be delivered,” he said.

In response, Mr Malinauskas said Mr McBride had been “on the phone to me and a number of other members in this place regarding this issue over a sustained period” and praised his “agitation” to help get the agreement in place for the region.

Mr Malinauskas said he had been advised that Telstra hoped the first towers would be constructed before the end of this year, and it was Telstra’s intent “that all 27 towers will be fully operational by the end of next year”.

This article appeared in The Naracoorte News, 20 August 2025.