Thousands of flood-affected residents in northern New South Wales could spend days without mobile reception after what federal Labor MP Justine Elliot described as “the deliberate burning” of a Telstra 5G tower.
New South Wales police could not yet say whether the fire at the Mullumbimby phone tower was deliberately lit, but confirmed an investigation was under way into its cause and that a crime scene had been established.
Elliot, the member for Richmond, said she was “disgusted by the deliberate burning” of the tower.
Please find my statement on vandals burning the Telstra tower in Mullumbimby. pic.twitter.com/tcqrV6rkIn
— Justine Elliot, your local Labor MP (@JElliotMP) March 17, 2022
“The authorities have advised me that this fire was deliberately lit and a criminal investigation is underway,” Elliott said in a statement shared via her Twitter account.
“We have just seen the effects of a lack of communication through an emergency – when people couldn’t use their phones and were stranded without rescue,” she said in a statement.
“As a result of these actions, people right now cannot use their phones around Mullumbimby … this places lives at risk and will significantly set back our recovery.”
Telstra said the fire appeared to be deliberately lit, with a spokesperson describing it as a “unnecessary, dangerous and selfish act of vandalism”.
The site is Telstra’s only telecommunications tower in greater Mullumbimby, meaning thousands of residents would be without mobile coverage as flood recovery efforts continued.
Telstra’s establishment of its first 5G tower in Mullumbimby last year sparked backlash from some residents, with conspiracy theorists claiming 5G’s “electromagnetic energy” harmed babies and was related to the spread of Covid.
Emergency services were called to the scene at about 3am on Friday following reports that the top of the tower was alight. Fire and Rescue NSW attended a short time later and extinguished the blaze. Technicians were working to assess the damage.
Telstra’s regional general manager, Mike Marom, said the fire had made a difficult time for Mullumbimby “much harder”.
“At a time like this, when communications are so crucial to flood recovery, to have our mobile site damaged and critical telecommunications taken out is reprehensible,” he said.
Marom said it could take several days for some mobile coverage to be re-established in the town.
“We’re working on bringing a temporary mobile service in to Mullumbimby but, with a number of our temporary mobile services already deployed elsewhere across the NSW and Queensland flood zones, we’re having to balance the need for mobile connectivity in a number of places at the same time,” he said.
He said Telstra was assisting NSW police with its investigation and had crews on site to assess the damage.
