An essential service...

These connectivity issues, compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, have hindered the ability of rural Australia to participate in online educational content and online economic opportunities.

The telecommunications divide between cities and the bush...

Video by Landline, ABC News

Whilst considered a Federal issue, personally I cannot believe that both Federally and for the State of NSW the area electorate of both Barwon and Parkes has been controlled by the same major party of whom has had control of the "purse strings" of both State and Federal for the entire time that mobile phones were first rolled out since 1992 onwards.

Still today, both State and Federal MP's have presided over the one and the same electorate (common ground) and allowed (through lack of funding/political will) too many mobile coverage "Black spots" to exist in the common electorates of Barwon/Parkes.

You would think that given the fact these were/are both historically safe seats to the National Party over decades, that funding for such an essential/critical infrastructure/service would have been a priority, but sadly no.

Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, rural Aussie's were suffering from the lack of reliable internet access. The pandemic exacerbated the divide, further hindering the central/far west access to education and economic opportunity.

The lack access to high-speed broadband, which is defined as download speeds of at least 25 mbps. Aussie's live in places where they cannot gain reliable access to broadband internet service, this can't happen and things must change.

Rural students were twice as likely as urban students to report lacking adequate technology to complete their coursework during the pandemic. The lack of reliable internet access has also inhibited the economic recovery for many rural communities from Covid and from droughts and flooding rains.

Immediate oversight is needed to better understand the problems with broadband access in rural communities, gain insight into what systems the current Federal government representative has implemented to tackle and respond to customer complaints, and get clarification on internal metrics to gauge provider's performance.