Cape Barren phone tower to go ahead as Flinders Council chips in $80,000
Flinders Council has chipped in an additional $80,000 to make sure a telecommunications tower can be built on Cape Barren Island/truwana, ending a dispute between Telstra and the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania.
Parties failed to reach a land purchasing agreement in October after the ALCT knocked back a $6000 offer from Telstra, believed at the time to be the last opportunity for a deal to be reached before the project deadline.
The construction was part of the $10.6 million federal government rollout of four telecommunications towers in the Furneaux Islands, three of which have already been built on Flinders Island.
Cape Barren Island/truwana will have dedicated mobile reception for the first time from mid-2020 after a deal was finally struck between Telstra and the ALCT. Picture: Scott Gelston
Flinders Council saw the tower as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" for Cape Barren Island/truwana and its 100 residents, and parties came back to the negotiating table when a deal was finally reached last week.
Flinders Council agreed to pay the $80,000 for the $4000-per-year lease of the land for 20 years - the expected asset life - as well as $155,000 for associated costs.
Council acting general manager Heidi Marshall acted as the intermediary between the parties after talks broke down, and said if the process did not succeed, it was likely that the island - and the Furneaux Islands - would be without complete coverage for the indefinite future.
The approximate location of the phone tower:
"This has been such a big investment for the islands, so we didn't want to launch the other towers under a cloud with this tower not being built," she said.
"It's just for Cape Barren, but for Lady Barron too, and for allowing that link back to the mainland to catch that signal."
MORE ON CAPE BARREN ISLAND/TRUWANA:
Mayor Annie Revie said the council was "proud to make this commitment", given the importance of the project.
The tower will be built by the end of the June at the corner of Long Beach Road and Burgess Lane on the island's west coast, near the main township.
The council believed the tower was essential to completing the upgrade for the benefit of the Furneaux Islands, providing improved coverage from Palana and Killicrankie in the north to Lady Barron and Cape Barren Island/truwana in the south.
The negotiations between Telstra and the ALCT became heated at times, with the ALCT alleging Telstra was undervaluing land, which Telstra flatly denied.