Communications

Three Cape York communities will today be announced as recipients of federal funding as part of the government’s Regional Connectivity Program. Lockhart River, Seisia and Cooktown will all benefit from a combined $3.5 million to fix their broken or nonexistent telecommunications infrastructure. And the good news for locals in those communities is that it isn’t dependent on the election result – the funding is in the budget.

The Northern Territory Space Strategy 2022-2026 builds on the success of Territory Space industry 2020 and establishes a vision for the Northern Territory to be recognised as the home of high altitude pseudo-satellites in the Indo-Pacific region, Australia’s premier space launch location and a leading regional centre for ground station facilities.

Lockhart River mayor Wayne Butcher is hoping a close federal election race in Leichhardt will be the catalyst for a major upgrade to the town’s disgraceful telecommunications network ... “We are not asking for 5G like the cities, we are simply asking for a reliable 4G service ... There is a lack of understanding in the capital cities about how bad we have it here.”

Yanchep, Yanchep East, Gingin, Lancelin and Guilderton are all set to benefit from infrastructure upgrades to mobile network sites designed to improve mobile phone services for communities during emergencies. One hundred and forty-one infrastructure upgrades in WA will be funded as part of the second round of the Commonwealth mobile network hardening program, worth $10.9 million.