We are seeking feedback on the draft Grant Opportunity Guidelines for the Perth Hills Round of the Mobile Network Hardening Program (the Program).
Why we want your input
We want to give the telecommunications sector, communities, local governments and other stakeholders the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the draft Guidelines before they are finalised and the Round opens to applications.How you can voice your opinion
You can provide feedback on the draft Guidelines by uploading your submission or emailing us at MNHP@communications.gov.au by 5pm AEDT on Friday 30 January 2026.What will be the outcome of this consultation?
Your submission will help ensure the Guidelines are clear and deliver the objectives of the Program. The Round is expected to open for applications following consideration of feedback and finalisation of the Guidelines.The Issue
The Mobile Network Hardening Program (MNHP) provides grant funding for upgrades to Australia’s mobile network telecommunications infrastructure in regional and peri-urban Australia to improve resilience to, and recovery from, natural disasters.
In April 2025, the Australian Government committed $1.2 million to increase battery backup power reserves to at least 20 hours and deliver Automatic Transfer Switches (ATS) at up to 23 mobile towers across the Perth Hills region in Western Australia. Funding is available to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Mobile Network Infrastructure Providers (MNIPs) for resilience upgrades to telecommunications infrastructure to:
- help prevent outages in the event of a natural disaster or power outage
- strengthen the resilience of telecommunications facilities to allow them to operate for longer during natural disasters and power outages, and
- enable the rapid restoration of services following an outage.
Relevant documentation
Participate
23 Dec 2025 12:00 AEDT
30 Jan 2026 17:00 AEDT
Open
days
remaining 37 of 38
We invite you to tell us your views on this topic.
Please include:
- contact name
- organisation name, if applicable
- contact details, including telephone number, postal and email addresses
- confirmation whether or not your submission can be made public—published—or kept confidential.
All submissions to be made public need to meet the Digital Service Standard for accessibility. Any submission that does not meet this standard may be modified before being made public.
If your submission is to be made public, please ensure you do not include any personal information that you don't want to be published.
If your submission is confidential, please ensure each page of the submission is marked as confidential.
Please click on the 'Have your say now' button below to upload your submission.
Alternatively please email your submission to MNHP@communications.gov.au.
Privacy Collection Notice
Mobile Network Hardening Program Perth Hills Round Draft Guidelines
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts (“the Department”) is collecting your submission, including any personal information supplied, in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988.
Use
The Department may use your submission for the purposes of finalising the Program.
Disclosure
The Department will not disclose information to third parties, except in the circumstances outlined below.
The Department may publish your submission as explained below. Otherwise your submission will not be disclosed unless authorised or required by law.
Contacting You
You are not required to provide your contact name and contact details when providing your submission. However, if you choose to do so, the department may use your personal information to contact you about your submission and the consultation process.
Publication
Unless marked confidential (see below) submissions (including the author’s name) may be published in part or full on the Department’s website or in any public response by the Department. When publishing, the Department will redact any personal contact details of the author.
Confidentiality
Confidential submissions will not be published and will only be disclosed in the following circumstances:
- in response to a request by a Commonwealth Minister;
- where required by a House or a Committee of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia;
- where necessary in the public interest; or
- where authorised or required by law.
Submissions will only be treated as confidential if they are expressly stated to be confidential. Automatically generated confidentiality statements or disclaimers appended to an email do not suffice for this purpose. If you would like to make a confidential submission, you must indicate this by ensuring your submission is clearly marked confidential. Even if a submission is not marked confidential, the Department may choose not to publish it, or any part of it, in the Department’s discretion (for example where it includes personal information or opinions about a third party).
Access
The Department will securely store your personal information and the Department’s privacy policy contains information regarding complaint handling processes and how to access and/or seek correction of personal information held by the Department. Further information is available on our Privacy page.