After months of consultation and assessment, the Regional Telecommunications Review Independent Committee released their 2021 report on communication issues that plague regional Australia, with a myriad of the problems discussed being echoed across the Western Plains. 

Following the review that commenced in June 2021, the report was released this week, including 16 key findings and 12 recommendations by which the Australian government can help to lay the foundations of a ‘more accessible, competitive, and reliable regional telecommunications landscape’.

Among the findings were the overwhelming expectations of local councils to facilitate telecommunications service delivery without sufficient resources, and a lack of maintenance of rural landlines, despite the existing Universal Service Obligation.



NSW Farmers Vice President Xavier Martin said while the findings and recommendations weren’t groundbreaking by any stretch, they brought a focus to the growing importance of connectivity outside capital cities. 

“The independent committee reporting on Australia’s telecommunications system compared the need for digital access to the need for electricity, which is not far off the mark and indicates how rapidly we have come to depend on reliable connectivity,” Mr Martin said. 

“COVID-19 accelerated the need to be able to be connected from anywhere, and there’s a real opportunity to bring regional, rural and remote Australia up to the same standard as urban centres,” he said. 

The recommendations that came from the report include removing the extra charges to access internet that come with living rurally, and increase the accuracy and transparency of mobile network quality and coverage information. 

Mr Martin was impressed that the recommendations address the need for long-term solutions, rather than ‘band-aid fixes’ on connectivity issues.

“The Black Summer bushfires and other natural disasters have exposed the dangers of poor or unreliable connectivity, and this is a reality our farmers have to deal with daily when they move around their property,” Mr Martin said. 

“With more business being conducted online and health services stretched, especially during COVID, the need is huge and the investment potential almost limitless – especially if it means more businesses can be run remotely and more Australians can feasibly move out of the cities and into regional areas. 

The 2021 Report of the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee was provided to the Minister for Regionalisation, Regional Communications and Regional Education, Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie on 13 December 2021 and was tabled in parliament on the 14 February 2022.