The Albanese Government has pledged an additional $14 million to extend critical community Wi-Fi services at evacuation centres across Australia to prioritise safety and resilience measures for natural-disaster prone communities.

Member for Gilmore Fiona Phillips said the extra funding would add community Wi-Fi capability to a further 500 emergency sites, and extend services at 18 existing sites in Gilmore for an additional four years, beyond 2025.

“Since coming to office, the Albanese Government has made significant investments to improve mobile coverage and the resilience of communications networks against natural disasters.

“We have delivered more than 900 resilience projects just this term, including across Gilmore, with many more to come.

“Our Government will work closely with the NSW government to prioritise disaster-prone areas that do not have emergency connectivity solutions to ensure this investment delivers where it is most needed.”  

The Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters (STAND) program has already installed NBN Co. Sky Muster satellite connections to 1068 locations Australia-wide. 

This also includes emergency sites across areas in northern New South Wales and south east Queensland which were impacted during ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.