Poor phone coverage causes farmer to miss her partner's final moments

She is now calling for state and federal action to bring mobile phone connectivity to all rural areas and says it is "disgraceful" that more hasn't been done so far.

Ms Stark's partner, Jon Elder, Narromine, lost his life following an ATV accident, 50 metres from their family home, on January 25, 2024.

"On the day of the accident, after he was thrown from the ATV and was lying on the road, I ran to try and help him," Ms Stark said.

"I tried to call 000 when I was near him but the reception was so poor I had to run back to call and talk to them so I could actually get an ambulance to come.

"While I don't think we could have saved him even if we had been able to call 000, I had to leave his side which I should never have had to do."

She said she should have been able to be at Mr Elder's side when the emergency responder was telling her to check for his breathing and if there were any throat obstructions.

"I couldn't do that because I was inside the house and not by his side in his last moments," she said.

"Obviously, that adds to the stress and trauma of something that is already extremely stressful for all of us and extremely traumatic to lose someone that you love.

"Not even being able to talk to 000 while being by my partner's side.

"It might have helped him.

"I didn't know at the time but having that play on your mind is something that should never have to happen.

"It can be a matter of life and death when you can't even make a call to emergency services from different areas of a property.

"Farms are dangerous places or they can be and it's just really important that if someone needs to call emergency services, they shouldn't be questioning whether that's going to be possible or not."

The lack of mobile phone service, just 50m from Mr Elder's home, was something the couple had already previously highlighted.

The couple's property was just 25 minutes from Narrowmine and an hour from Dubbo, a population centre of 40,000.

"It's not really that remote but we can't even get reception," Ms Stark said.

In July 2021, she made a submission to the Regional Telecommunications Review outlining her concerns over the farm safety challenges brought about by the lack of connectivity.

"With the property, we've barely got any phone coverage and we've spent thousands over the years getting boosters and different internet providers and getting technicians here," she said.

She said the couple sent letters to MPs highlighting the risks.

"These are safety issues which I raised in submissions," she said.

"There's been times that my partner has been late when I thought that he would be back at a certain time and I couldn't get him on the phone.

"I've actually driven out around the farm and thought 'God what if he's under a tractor and I couldn't get to him'.

"We were already aware of the safety issues when you can't actually contact someone."

Little did Ms Stark know that these concerns would become a reality following her partner's accident.

She said the couple paid hundreds of dollars each year for mobile phone and internet connectivity and that it was Telstra who looked after their phones.

"We pay hundreds and hundreds for telephone bills and internet every month because we got two different providers because none of them are reliable," she said.

Ms Stark said while Mr Elder didn't die due to there being no phone connectivity, someone could one day.

"That's why it's so important to shed light on it and get the investment needed," she said.

"Not being able to call an ambulance and stay with him and see what I could do, or just be with him, was disgraceful and shouldn't be happening.

"There's going to be more things like this that happen.

"People have accidents all the time and they can't get help."

Ms Stark said no senior political official contacted her following her partner's death.

"No one else has reached out to me in terms of trying to help with connectivity," she said.

The Narromine farmer called for more investment in telecommunications infrastructure, including towers.

"Just to provide better coverage so that emergency services can be contacted when needed," she said.

"Noone should have to go through what we went through and what other people have gone through trying to get help for loved ones."

In a statement to Stock & Land, Telstra defended their mobile phone coverage provision across rural Victoria and New South Wales.

Telstra Victoria regional general manager Steve Tinker said there were a number of "factors" that could influence the availability of mobile coverage.

"Besides proximity to a working base station, the ability to connect can be influenced by the type of handset you are using, hills or valleys, tall trees, tall buildings and if they are using an external aerial or booster," he said.

"Also, mobile base stations can sometimes be off air for periods of time due to site upgrades or due to technical issues.

"All of these can impact whether people can successfully use their devices."

Mr Tinker said Australia was also a large country and there were still many areas where there was little or no mobile coverage.

"Telstra has the largest mobile network in Australia and while we provide mobile coverage to well over 99% of the population, nationally our land coverage is far less," he said.

"For these reasons, mobile coverage can never be guaranteed all of the time and we encourage people to have multiple forms of connectivity available such as landlines and the NBN where possible, so if issues arise, they can contact family members or emergency services."

He said Telstra extended its mobile network across Australia each year.

"Sometimes this is as part of our works program, sometimes it is through co-investment programs where we often work with federal, state and local governments or the private sector to help fund new base stations.

"Hundreds of sites have been built by Telstra through these initiatives over recent years."