A community north of Yeppoon are worried they will be cut off from the rest of the world and unable to call emergency services as Telstra indicates a telecommunication tower might not be viable.

Stockyard Point residents were shocked to discover not only that the tower may not be happening, the current 3G tower on-site will be shut down in mid-2024.

Former Stockyard Point Association President Matt Solley said after four years of negotiations, approved funding and planning, to have a new 4G micro tower established at Stockyard Point, it appears to have been put in the too hard basket.

“The funding from round 5 of the Mobile Phone Blackspot program has been in place since May 2021, site inspections were done, native title and National Parks permission has been approved, we have just been waiting for Telstra to get on the job of building it,” Mr Solley said.

“We have 36 holiday houses, 9 permanent homes with residents all aged over 65 and many visitors who need to be able to communicate with the outside world.

“Mobile service there has always been dodgy at best and now residents worry about their land lines.

“Police will struggle to tackle the hooning problem, residents and visitors will have no way to reliably call in accidents and illness.

“I have received multiple emails from Telstra and the reasons this vital piece of infrastructure appears to have been put on hold are not even viable.”

On 10 February 2022, Mr Solley received notification from Telstra to say they were investigating safe options on how to build on the site.

“They claimed access to the site is very difficult and potentially hazardous saying they would investigate the safest way to do the job and expected construction to start and be completed by September 2022,” he said.

On 9 August Mr Solley received further correspondence listing a range of challenges and informing him if further investigations are not resolved, the construction of the new tower would likely not proceed.

An inability to use the existing on-site structure, expected planning approval challenges and poor road access were cited as the obstacles.

The notification said based on the challenges, Telstra proposes that this is classified as being problematic and an alternative site elsewhere in Queensland will be selected instead.

Absolutely flabbergasted, Mr Solley said none of the three obstacles should be an issue at all.

“The inability to use existing on-site structure referred to the site being on the edge of a cliff with potential impact for weather damage saying it would require a regional D+ rating. This is just nonsense,” he said.

“The site is about a quarter of a mile away from the nearest cliff, we are rated as regional C+, regional D+ is for areas that get in excess of five cyclones a year.

“Expected planning approval challenges are also a farce, citing issues with getting native title and National Parks permission approvals when we already have them.

“Citing poor road access is also a disappointing excuse given that we have all built houses up here carting materials and the like.

“We are on a gazetted road and have a 5-tonne truck here which has done over 300 trips with loads of 3.5 tonne of building material in the last 24 months.

“We have been in discussions with Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry who is also looking into this for us, she was inspirational in securing the original Black Spot funding.”

Mr Solley said the beach has had two deaths, many accidents and multiple incidents at Stockyard Point, and they need communications for the safety of residents and visitors and must have the ability to contact emergency services when the need arises.

“These are fundamental needs that all Australians should be able to enjoy for their safety and connectivity, not just the masses,” he said.

Resident Pat Clair who lives close to the tower site was on-hand when a site inspection was done.

He said the workers inspecting the site told him they have built on much worse sites in the past and this wouldn’t be an issue going forward.

Another resident stated they had a Telstra technician visit last month and were told when the 3G tower is shut down, all the land-based phones will be obsolete.

Residents have received notice that all Telstra 3G services will cease by 30 June 2024 and it is each customer’s responsibility to ensure that the customer’s 3G services have been migrated to another Telstra service or discontinued before this date.

Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry said her office has been in communication with Mr Solley, and she will continue to work with Telstra to see a new tower installed.

“The previous Government invested millions of dollars into regional telecommunications, and I find this occurrence extremely disappointing,” Ms Landry said.

“Telstra have advised my office there is a challenge with the road access into Stockyard Point and an issue with the existing tower site.

“I am continuing my advocacy efforts with Telstra to find solutions to these challenges and to keep the residents and visitors of Stockyard Point phone services connected.”

Telstra Regional General Manager for Northern Queensland Rachel Cliffe said Telstra’s existing telecommunications structure at Stockyard Point is used to help deliver landline services to the community. It is not a mobile base station- in fact, the existing Telstra mobile coverage in the area comes from a mobile base station south of the area near Yeppoon.

“Regardless of what happens with future plans for this site, the existing level of mobile coverage will not decrease. In fact, indoor coverage could be improved if residents were using an external antenna or a mobile boosting device like a Telstra TGo,” she said.

“Stockyard Point also has access to NBN satellite for internet connectivity.

“We are encountering some problems with planning for the design and construction the site and Telstra has been working hard to see if we can proceed.

“The first challenge is in relation to the existing structure in place that helps deliver landline connectivity.

“The pole is not strong enough to take the weight of any additional mobile antennas. It would need to be replaced with a new and far sturdier structure that is compliant with current regulations for the high winds that can be experienced in this area.

“As it is a new structure, we would also require new development approval of our plans before we could proceed.

“With poor road access requiring a 4WD and being extremely challenging for a heavily laden truck to get to the site, Telstra is still reviewing options on how we could bring the long and heavy materials to site including the use of a barge and also a helicopter.

“A final decision has not yet been made on the future of the site, but we hope to have made a decision within coming weeks.”