Planning Application Noosaville

associated with the Deployment Code. These processes are handled within the relevant State and
Local consent procedures. Nevertheless the intent of the Code, to ensure Carrier’s follow a
‘precautionary approach’ to the siting of infrastructure capitalising on an existing exchange site and
telecommunications facility to improve services to the community.

All emissions from the site will be will within the requirements of the relevant Australian Standard.
in accordance with the Code’s ‘precautionary approach’. Telstra has applied the Precautionary
Approach in the Selection and Design of the proposed. This site has been selected and designed to
comply with the requirements of the Deployment Code in so much as the precautionary approach
has been adhered to and, as a result the best design solution has been achieved

EME and Health
Telstra acknowledges some people are genuinely concerned about the possible health effects of
electromagnetic energy (EME) from mobile phone base stations and is committed to addressing
these concerns responsibly.

Telstra, along with the other mobile phone carriers, must strictly adhere to Commonwealth
Legislation and regulations regarding mobile phone facilities and equipment administered by the
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

In 2003 the ACMA adopted a technical standard for continuous exposure of the general public to RF
EME from mobile base stations. The standard, known as the Radiocommunications (Electromagnetic
Radiation – Human Exposure) Standard 2003, was prepared by the Australian Radiation Protection
and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and is the same as that recommended by ICNIRP
(International Commission for Non- Ionizing Radiation Protection), an agency associated with the
World Health Organisation (WHO). Mobile carriers must comply with the Australian Standard on
exposure to EME set by the ACMA.

The Standard operates by placing a limit on the strength of the signal (or RF EME) that Telstra can
transmit to and from any network base station. The general public health standard is not based on
distance limitations, or the creation of “buffer zones”. The environmental standard restricts the
signal strength to a level low enough to protect everyone at all times. It has a significant safety
margin, or precautionary approach, built into it.

In order to demonstrate compliance with the standard, ARPANSA created a prediction report using a
standard methodology to analyse the maximum potential impact of any new telecommunications
facility. Carriers are obliged to undertake this analysis for each new facility and make it publicly
available.

Importantly, the ARPANSA-created compliance report demonstrates the maximum signal strength of
a proposed facility, assuming that it’s handling the maximum number of user’s 24-hours a day.
In this way, ARPANSA requires network carriers to demonstrate the greatest possible impact that a
new telecommunications facility could have on the environment, to give the community greater
peace of mind.

In reality, base stations are designed to operate at the lowest possible power level to accommodate
only the number of customers using the facility at any one time. This design function is called