Telstra showing a slide of what the proposed solution for Mystery Bay would involve. Photos: Marion Williams.
It is four years since Federal Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain committed $500,000 to improve mobile coverage in Dalmeny and $500,000 for Mystery Bay. Two years after Telstra was appointed to fix the problem, the areas populated by more than 2000 people remain black spots for mobile phone coverage.
Over those years there have been inordinate delays, apparent inaction, errors and blame-shifting.
As of late March, Ms McBain’s office said Telstra and Eurobodalla Shire Council were still negotiating about a suitable site in Dalmeny.
Two council-owned sites have been secured for Mystery Bay’s small cell technology. Telstra has said it will submit the required development applications (DAs) in early April.
Ms McBain’s office has confirmed that mobile phone coverage is needed to receive the Federal Government’s new cell-broadcast national messaging system, AusAlert. AusAlert, which replaces the emergency text messaging service, is expected to be operational by October.
Unless the black spots are fixed, Dalmeny and Mystery Bay residents will not receive AusAlerts.
Federal Member for Eden-Monaro Kristy McBain and Telstra representatives at a community forum in Narooma in February 2025.
In the aftermath of the Black Summer bushfires, Mystery Bay resident Mark Stubbings began advocating to Telstra and Ms McBain to fix Mystery Bay’s local mobile black spots in August 2020.
Ms McBain made her election commitment in April 2022. In October 2023 Telstra was appointed the successful tenderer. The funding agreement was signed in January 2024.
Mr Stubbings said that in January 2025 Ms McBain was publicly blaming Telstra in the media for the delays.
That same month Ms McBain’s office rang Mr Stubbings to tell him that “Telstra’s basis for resolving blackspot issues at 40 sites, including Mystery Bay and Dalmeny, was incorrect and the funding agreement needed to be revisited”.
In a phone call to Mr Stubbings in February 2025, Telstra regional manager Chris Taylor said that meant Telstra had to start the site acquisition again.
“That amazed me, but in addition to that, at a community drop-in session held by Telstra in August 2025 we learnt that Martin Grove, Poole Parade, much of Schneider Drive and parts of Johnston Way will not have any improvement of the signal after the two proposed small cells are finally operational,” Mr Stubbings said. “On 31 August 2025, I asked Kristy’s office if they were happy with that and what was their solution. Seven months on I have no response specific to Mystery Bay.”
In a 12 March email to her electorate promoting NBN upgrades Ms McBain said, “because in 2026 connectivity is no longer a nice to have, it is an absolute necessity”.
Mystery Bay residents attended a drop-in session in August 2025 for an update on improved mobile phone coverage.
When Region asked Ms McBain’s office about the gaps in coverage, it responded “it will still be a vast improvement on what is currently available in the local area”.
Ms McBain said the Albanese Government had recently introduced legislation into parliament to establish a framework that would create a Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation. It would require national mobile carriers Telstra, Optus and TPG to provide access to SMS and voice coverage for Australians nationwide, almost everywhere you can see the sky.
She said the universal obligation had a default start date of 1 December 2027 so all telcos would need to be on board by then.
“That is not an acceptable solution for Mystery Bay,” Mr Stubbings said. “While the legislation aims for 2027, the default start date may be adjusted, and the minister can delay it to as late as 2030.”
Ms McBain said she had met with Telstra’s CEO and had multiple meetings with Telstra’s regional manager regarding the proposed sites in Mystery Bay and Dalmeny.
“Like the community I am frustrated by the lack of progress, and I have repeatedly raised the need to prioritise the upgrades in Mystery Bay,” she said.
It remains unclear when, or even if, Dalmeny and Mystery Bay will have improved mobile phone coverage.
“In the meantime, elderly pensioners and families can’t make emergency calls when they have a mishap, and they won’t benefit from the proposed AusAlert system that Kristy has been promoting,” Mr Stubbings said. “They can’t communicate with each other, friends, families or the outside world, they can’t work or study from home, and they can’t just enjoy the simple conveniences and pleasures that most other Australians take for granted.”
