Power and Water’s blackout communication strategy comes under fire

THE Territory Opposition has called on the government to do a better job communicating with the public after Power and Water only managed a handful of social media posts during Wednesday’s blackout.

Opposition essential services spokesman Josh Burgoyne said a few tweets and a Facebook post about the blackout were not a good enough effort at keeping Territorians up to date.

• Investigation launched into major blackout that plunged Darwin, Palmerston and parts of Katherine into the dark
• ‘One-off’ routine maintenance blunder by APA Group sparked mass NT power outage
• ‘Gas supply interruption’ at Channel Island caused major blackout in the Top End
• Power outages across Darwin suburbs, Palmerston and Katherine, according to Power and Water

THE Territory Opposition has called on the government to do a better job communicating with the public after Power and Water only managed a handful of social media posts during Wednesday’s blackout.

Responding to questions from the NT News, essential services spokesman Josh Burgoyne said the few tweets and a Facebook post were not a good enough effort at keeping Territorians up to date.

“It’s essential that during these sorts of events the government communicate across a range of mediums to reach as many people as possible,” he said.

“Businesses had to make decisions about whether or not to close early while households needed information to plan ahead.”

MORE NT POLITICS NEWS

NT government ended contracts with 26 quarantine hotels in July, raising questions about lack of surge capabilities

Cashless debit card to replace Basics Card in the NT as government gets set to charge ahead with law change

Territory tourism voucher waiting list balloons to 25,000 people, as first burst release deadline looms

But a Power and Water spokeswoman defended its handling of the messaging, saying the organisation texted more than 200 vulnerable customers at the start of the blackout and fielded about 3000 calls within the first couple of hours.

The spokeswoman said Power and Water contacted police and other services at 4pm and continued to provide updates as they became available. She said the team managed about 1400 social media comments and emails by 6pm.

“We fielded numerous inquiries from the media and provided information that was available at the time,” she said.

“Providing timely communications during emergency events is always challenging and an area we continually strive to improve to get messages to our customers and the community even more quickly.”

OFFER EXTENDED: Amazing NT News subscription offer: Read everything for $1

Essential Services Minister Eva Lawler said an investigation would be conducted “into what occurred”.