Two years after a Telstra outage saw residents of Maningrida in the Top End left unable to top up their power cards or report water leaks, a specialised hotline for remote NT communities is expanding into central Australia.
And the Power and Water Corporation, which runs the remote reporting line created since the February 2024 Telstra outage, says it is planning to include First Nations language options for remote residents across the 72 communities it provides utilities.
The 0872 Report spoke with PWC’s Michelle Flynn, who has led the project to create the new 1800 245 091 remote community hotline, last week.
She said the government-owned corporation had been working with the Aboriginal Interpreter Service on the simplified remote hotline, which includes just three options, after Maningrida residents raised concerns the original NT-wide hotline was confusing for people who didn’t speak English as a first language.
The hotline gives people three options, one to report emergencies; one for issues like power outages and water leaks, and a third option to top up their power cards and pay bills.
Ms Flynn said while it was hard to provide data on what specific issues remote customers were calling about compared to urban residents in Darwin and Alice Springs, the hotline had received more then 440 calls from residents of remote Territory communities in its first year of operations.
You can hear the full interview from The 0872 Report above, which is one of a series of reports the weekly news and current affairs show is doing on remote water issues in central Australia and the Barkly.
Tune in to The 0872 Report on 8CCC 102.1FM this Friday at 9am for an exclusive interview with the Central Australian woman grappling with four NT Government departments, as well as Power and Water, in an effort to improve water quality and supply across the Territory.
This report and podcast was supported through a grant from the Local and Independent News Association.