Spatial justice, mobile futures and First Nations telecommunications landscapes in regional and rural Australia

Abstract

In an Australian regional and rural context, inequalities in the location of telecommunications infrastructure and uneven development pose urgent spatial justice questions for policy and planning. These spatial injustices are reinforced by the imaginaries and ideologies of telecommunications development and which populations and locations can benefit from the growth gains attributed to enhanced telecommunications infrastructures. First Nations contributions to telecommunications planning and development are marginalised within the imagined futures and current experiences of internet and mobile coverage in regional and rural towns. Drawing on data from a project focused on regional and rural consumer understandings of smart technologies in North West New South Wales, Australia, we suggest that in order to more substantively position First Nations as growth contributors to telecommunications futures, a re-orientation of place, connectivity, and mobility in planning and engagement is necessary.