Bendigo, Ballarat, Horsham and Shepparton already have free public Wi-Fi which the government stated provided 600,000 square metres of coverage.

The Ararat Wi-Fi rollout would continue the Labor Government’s Connecting Regional Communities Program, which received $45 million in the 2017-18 Victorian Budget.

Work on the project would commence next year, with the project to be rolled-out by the end of 2020. Regional Development Minister Jaala Pulford said the project would combat the digital divide faced by regional and rural Victorians. 

“We are excited to announce that the next town to benefit from our Wi-Fi roll-out will be Ararat. This will ensure that Ararat locals and visitors can access the information they need, when they need it,” she said.

“That’s why we’re rolling out projects that will close (the divide). It’s about ensuring regional Victorians are better connected and boosting jobs.”

Following this announcement, the Liberal Nationals party announced a pledge to roll-out 5G mobile connectivity services across Victoria’s railway network.

The party stated that if elected, it would commence immediate discussions with telecommunication providers, the Commonwealth, public transport operators and other interested stakeholders about how to best utilise existing State Government infrastructure and assets for the roll-out.

This commitment builds on the Liberal Nationals’ pledge to deliver high speed rail across Victoria to reduce travel times and improve reliability.

It also follows the Liberal Nationals’ $633 million announcement to replace all diesel hauled country rail services with six-carriage, long haul, VLocity railcars.

Shadow Public Transport Minister David Davis said the roll-out of 5G mobile connectivity nodes “will provide vital anchor points for access” and support greater decentralisation.