Canberra doesn't have a plan for emergency comms

Amid the wrangling over the backpacker tax, industrial relations legislation and day-to-day senate shenanigans, the federal government released its response to the Productivity Commission’s report into Public Safety Mobile Broadband (PSMB). You could be forgiven for not noticing. Its response was lacklustre and spineless.

By announcing that it has chosen to “support(s) in principle the Commission’s findings and recommendations” and “establish a committee of Commonwealth, State and Territory officials to consider fully scoped proposals and report to the Council of Australian Governments in 2017”, the government has shown us that it does not have a plan for public safety.

For years, the Police Federation of Australia (PFA) has argued that part of the unallocated 700 MHz of spectrum should be set aside for a dedicated PSMB capability. There have been inquiries and investigations. First there was the Public Safety Mobile Broadband Steering Committee (PSMBC) jointly chaired by the Attorney General’s Department and the Department of Communications. Then there was the Senate Committee, the Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Productivity Commission report. And now it’s back to a committee.

To date not one recommendation from any of the committees has been actioned. This includes:

• The PSMBC recommendation that 2 x 5 MHz of spectrum be set aside for public safety mobile broadband, while acknowledging that during critical incidents additional spectrum would be needed from commercial carriers.
• Former Attorney General, Nicola Roxon advised the states and territories that the then government had decided to allocate 2 x 5 MHz in the 800 MHz band.
• The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) set aside 2 x 5 MHz from the 800 MHz band.
• Unanimous endorsement by the Senate Committee for the allocation of sufficient spectrum for dedicated broadband public protection and disaster relief (PPDR).
• The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement recommended that 2 x 10 MHz be allocated for public safety from the 700 or 800 MHz bands. (This committee comprised heavy hitters such as former Attorney General Robert McClelland; current Deputy Leader of the National Party Senator Fiona Nash; current Justice Minister Michael Keenan; and current President of the Senate Senator Stephen Parry.)

The government is sending a frightening message when agreeing to the commission’s view that “commercial mobile networks are the most efficient, effective and economical way of delivering a public safety mobile broadband capability”.

Flashback to mid-2016 when Telstra outages occurred. In July one such outage affected businesses, Medibank, the Department of Finance and even political parties on the eve of an election, on the all-important final day of the financial year.

And that’s in the cities. In rural and regional Australia, a dedicated PSMB is even more vital. Relying on commercial carriers in times of crisis has proven to be unreliable. Inquests have found that lives have been lost because of poor communication capabilities. You only need to read the final report of the royal commission into the 2009 Victorian bushfires, in which 173 people died. It says: “Communications systems on 7 February were also hindered by poor coverage, lack of interoperability between emergency services agencies, and insufficient investment in new technologies. For example, the transmission speed of the paging system had been reduced in order to expand reception coverage, and this caused serious delays in other than the most urgent messaging… Further, radio ‘black spots’ meant that reception was poor or non-existent in some areas.”

What is disappointing is that this government is prepared to play with the lives of Australians, rather than provide a PSMB dedicated to the emergency services. It is, without doubt, all about money. The government’s announcement to auction the remaining 700 MHz serves to illustrate the real agenda. It is just a shame that this government is putting dollars before safety.

Mark Burgess is CEO of the Police Federation of Australia. He has a Bachelor of Social Science (Justice Studies) from Newcastle University and a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Charles Sturt University. He was awarded the Australia Police Medal in the 2007 Queens Birthday Honours list.