Indi has received the most federal funding for new mobile phone towers in Victoria, according to a new report, but the electorate's federal member says she won't rest until there are no mobile phone blackspots.
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Member for Indi Helen Haines published The Connecting Indi report, which showed that more than 65 new towers had been built across Indi since 2013, and making it the the fourth most successful nationwide under the mobile black spot program.
Speaking at a community gathering in Tarrawingee Dr Haines said the job was far from over.
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"That's what I heard about today, from the people of Tarrawingee who are only 10 minutes out of Wangaratta and they can't access reliable mobile phone coverage," she said.
"It's not good enough, I want to see this problem fixed, I will continue to fight for this.
"I have 20 priority areas on my list to the government and Tarrawingee is one of those."
Dr Haines called on the government to increase the amount of funding in the mobile blackspot program, from $500,000 per tower up to$1 million per tower.
"We have people in places like Tarrawingee who struggle to undertake their business because of the poor signal from their mobile phones, in fact, no signal often," she said.
"That has an impact on their safety, has an impact on their business, has an impact on their education and health care and it's absolutely not good enough."
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Victoria Ellis
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
Victoria Ellis grew up on the Border and loves reporting for her home community. She is a University of Wollongong Journalism graduate. In 2018 Victoria was awarded the Bruce Gordon Scholarship for Journalism and completed a 10 week internship with WIN News Illawarra. In 2019 she was awarded The Border Mail's Cameron Thompson Scholarship, where she completed a three week internship, before taking up ongoing employment in 2021.
