Horrifying bushfires that have dominated our summer have done what major bushfires have always done –  hit us between the eyes with reasons everyday services need to be second to none.

Knowing fires are blazing out of control somewhere in the country tends to heighten community awareness or speculation about weakness in everything from communication services and the standard of roads to large-scale land management and water and energy security.

There is no greater galvanising factor in realising and understanding any service shortcomings than fear.

Whether being directly in danger from an approaching fire or being concerned about the disaster on the other side of the state, fear has a habit of illuminating glaring failings in defences.

As fires raged in south-eastern NSW and Victoria’s east, one such failing became blatantly obvious to motorists travelling on the many roads to and from western Victorian holiday destinations during the Christmas break.

With countless warning and incident updates spewing from car radios, it seemed logical to check up the whereabouts of family and friends across the country. 

Unfortunately, in some circumstances, a lack of or poor mobile-telephone connectivity across vast stretches of the country made communication all but impossible. 

These cases immediately placed long-term issues surrounding regional ‘black spot’ communication into glaring perspective.

It raised questions such as: What happens when travellers are suddenly caught in serious fires in these areas? How well or easily can they talk to anyone? What if something bad has happened at home? Was radio information enough?

While this lack of communication service is understandable when considering Australia as a whole, it seems unfathomable it still exists in relatively little Victoria.

Caution during severe fire days prompted some western Victorian travellers to follow advice and avoid short-cut arterial roads and divert to major highways where phone service, while scratchy in some areas, was more reliable.

This of course led to other safety issues, especially bumper-to-bumper single-carriageway traffic on the Western Highway between Ararat and the South Australian border. 

It identified another regional service shortfall – roads and connectivity.

As always, after all natural disasters, it is imperative that everyone, from the humblest Australian to the state’s premiers and prime minister, learn from what has happened and plan and respond appropriately.

From government perspectives, that means having a good hard and educated look at what service, management and response gaps became clear amid community fears and anxiety.

At the height of community fear, having confidence in services is as important as the heroic efforts of our firefighters and the good will of a nation.

The entire January 22, 2020 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!