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5G—have your say

The Australian Government has released a discussion paper on 5G and is inviting public comment until 11 December.

The paper is part of its 5G initiative to support businesses by providing grants for them to trial 5Gtechnology. This is intended to create the commercial incentive for other businesses to adopt 5G technology and for carriers to accelerate their rollout of 5G infrastructure.

‘2021 will be the “Year of 5G”, and our investment in these 5G trials supports this’ said Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher.

According to the Minister, 5G will bring economic benefits. ’5G will have an economic effect well beyond any short-term commercial return. 5G is estimated to add $1,300 to $2,000 in gross domestic product per person after the first decade of the rollout,’ he said.

However, there is no indication of whether, in making this claim, the Ministry has considered costs associated with the potential health impacts of exposing people to largely untested 5G radiation.

There will be two rounds of funding for this project over three years and guidelines for the grants will be developed based on feedback to the discussion paper.

Considerations

  • Why is Ministry encouraging the rollout of 5G technology being before research has been conducted to determine that exposure to 5G signals is safe?
  • Has the Minister, in making claims of 5G’s economic benefit, considered the potential impact of health care and legal costs in the event that exposed workers develop health problems?
  • All trials must incorporate measurements of exposure levels before and during the trial by
    independent experts.
  • All trials must incorporate surveys of workers’ symptoms before and after the trial, to be devised and undertaken by independent researchers.

 

Sending feedback:
Submissions can be emailed to: 5GInitiative@communications.gov.au
or posted to:
Australian 5G Innovation Initiative
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications
GPO Box 594
Canberra ACT 2601

More details

Media release: https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/fletcher/media-release/australias-5g-innovation-
initiative

Discussion paper: https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/consultation-australian-5G-innovation-initiative

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