Gilmore candidate launches petition to fix mobile black spots along Princes Highway

Shadow minister for regional communications Stephen Jones joined Ms Phillips at the campaign’s launch in Milton on Friday, October 12.

There are more than 90 mobile black spots along the Princes Highway in the Gilmore electorate. Mrs Phillips said the critical issue mobile black spots posed was safety.

“We know there's over 90 mobile blackspots along the Princes Highway (in Gilmore), so we’re really concerned about that,” she said. 

“We want to identify them, find out what ones people are most concerned about and work on fixing those.”

Mr Jones said Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla residents should not have to wait to see whether Labor was elected as the next government to address some of the black spots.

He said it was up to the Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis to ensure the highest priority black spots were dealt with in the current funding round.

“We want to ensure Gilmore and the areas along the Princes Highway in particular get dealt with in this current funding round,” Mr Jones said.

“Labor will have a mobile black spot program, but we don’t want people to have to wait until May next year to have commitments made in dealing with mobile phone black spots in Gilmore.

“It’s up to the local member to ensure these things can be dealt with now.”

Mr Jones said there were more than 10,000 mobile phone black spots on the government’s database.

He encouraged Gilmore residents to help identify the most problematic black spots through the petition.

“Clearly we can’t deal with them all at once, we need to have a way of prioritising those black spots that are the most important,” he said. 

“Labor believes the public safety ought be a critical factor in identifying which black spots are funded and dealt with first.”

Ms Phillips said the petition was about working within the current government’s programs to fix problem reception areas. 

“Fixing mobile black spots along the Princes Highway should be a priority.”