Black spot funding under scrutiny by SA Gov

An investigation into the use of mobile black spot funding has been requested by the South Australian Government in a letter to the Auditor General.

The Auditor General Grant Hehir has been asked to investigate the process by which sites are chosen, after several high-risk areas missed out although they were high priority.

The federal government’s Mobile Black Spot Program provides funding to mobile network operators to build new mobile base stations in regional locations, with $60 million allocated nationally for round two.

Under the program, mobile network operators such as Telstra and Optus submit applications directly to the federal government for funding to build new base stations. The federal government then determines which sites will be funded.

The South Australian Government committed to contributing $2 million to round two of the Mobile Black Spot Program. The federal government chose to support 15 sites with state co-contributions of $1.326 million.

“Sites we nominated that were not selected by the federal government under this process include high-risk areas such as Wasleys where the Pinery fire hit just one year ago,” said Minister for Science and Information Economy Minister, Kyam Maher.

“I have written to the Auditor General requesting a full investigation into this program as the lack of transparency in deciding sites is of significant concern to the South Australian Government.”

During the federal election campaign, sitting Liberal members ‘guaranteed’ nine sites in their electorates. Of these, three were funded during round two.

An earlier report by the Australian National Audit Office was critical of the program, finding it did not always provide value for money.

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