Today, the South Australian Forest Products Association (SAFPA) presented to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on communications and the Arts Inquiry into the experience, opportunities and challenges for co-investment in multi-carrier regional mobile infrastructure where it outlined the critical need to secure regional connectivity for the South East of South Australia.
“On behalf of South Australia’s forest industries, SAFPA was pleased to provide evidence to the Committee the critical issue of connectivity for those that live and work in our regions, especially the South East’, said Nathan Paine, Chief Executive Officer of SAFPA.
“Connectivity is critical for our regions, whether it is to ensure worker safety, improved industry productivity through the introduction of new technologies, protecting the estate from fires or promoting our regions as a place to live and work”, continued Mr Paine.
“Recognising the importance of connectivity, SAFPA has been working with Telstra to bring an ambitious plan to connect up the South East to life. This ambitious plan is seeking to bring together all levels of government, Telstra and industry to secure continuous connectivity no matter where you are in the South East”.
“Not only will this initiative be supporting the forest industries and the 21,300 people who work in the industry, but it will support the broader region, other commodity groups and the tourism sector. More importantly, it will make the South East a regional beacon, a light on the hill, to attract people seeking to move to our regions”, said Mr Paine.
“This is an exciting proposal which will transform the region and most importantly it has the potential to prove up a multi-party model that can then be replicated in other regions of South Australia and the nation”.
“SAFPA will continue to represent the needs of the forest industries and promote the importance of regional connectivity to ensure the region is connected up and we thank Telstra for their engagement and focus on regional connectivity in the South East”, concluded Mr Paine.