SOUTH WEST Coast state MP Denis Napthine has fired a broadside into federal territory by backing calls for Canberra to learn a lesson from the impact of Warrnambool’s Telstra exchange centre fire.
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He described last week’s fire and subsequent communications blackout as a wake-up call on the national implications of having key equipment for a whole region housed in one building.
“It was discussed in state cabinet and I suggested to the Premier he needs to put it on the agenda at the next Council of Australian Governments meeting,” Dr Napthine said.
“This incident is a microcosm of what could happen around Australia.
“It’s a wake-up call for the federal government to meet with Telstra and other telcom providers to ask about how they are going to protect our economic livelihoods.
“The federal government needs to ask serious questions about management of systems, maintenance of systems, back-up and alternative pathways.”
Dr Napthine said the Warrnambool failure caused a significant economic blow to the south-west and he predicted a considerable compensation claim against Telstra.
“It seems extraordinary that all telephones, e-commerce, EFTPOS and emails were all at risk because of the failure of an exchange in Warrnambool.
“I’m shocked and surprised that it affected people as far as Edenhope, Coleraine and Hamilton and there were no alternative routes.
“Telstra put all the eggs in one basket.”
