Russell Island phone blackout: Call for Telstra and Optus to work together to help residents

Two telecommunications giants have been slammed over their handling of days-long mass outages on a South East Queensland island, as residents continue to battle to get back on their feet after ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

Energex crews on Russell Island.

Telecommunications, internet and power outages have prompted a South East Queensland council mayor to tell Telstra to “pull its finger out” amid complaints from bay island residents.

Logan Mayor Jon Raven said about 10 per cent of Logan properties remained without power and internet on Tuesday morning.

He said his main gripe was with the lack of mobile phone towers, adding that both Optus and Telstra had said they had “lots of generators” ready prior to the cyclone hitting.

“They were going to be able to move them in to make sure that towers that became exhausted could be stood back up,” he said.

“That hasn’t happened in Logan and we’ve got four or five towers that service a huge number of people – and they are just not getting the power and the generators in there.”

Prior to Cyclone Alfred hitting the coast, Premier David Crisafulli ordered generators to be sent to the six bay islands.

Two were sent Russell Island and located outside the police station and primary school.

They played a key role in getting essential services such as the petrol station and IGA supermarket and school back up and running.

Local IGA manager Deb Pattinson put free power boards out the front of the store, which was running on the state-delivered generator, to allow customers to charge phones.

Conditions on Russell Island on Tuesday.

The store staff took on extra shifts to keep shelves stocked and bake extra bread rolls throughout the cyclone.

IGA staff worked even though many did not have power at home and many suffered storm damage.

Despite the generators, some residents of Russell, Macleay, Karragarra and Lamb islands were without power and internet since Thursday, with many questioning why Telstra towers were working while Optus customers were cut off from communications.

Island resident Trish Harris said the frustration was to be expected as it was an unprecedented natural disaster.

“We do live on an island which is a big nature reserve surrounded by trees so we have to expect some storm damage,” she said.

“We cannot expect governments to supply generators to every household and we cannot expect Energex to send over equipment and vehicles worth millions of dollars before such an event.

“If those assets were on the island earlier they may have been damaged which would have slowed down the recovery.”

Russell Island resident Trish Harris had no electricity since Thursday and said the telcos needed to work together.

However, Ms Harris said the two telcos failed islanders.

She said Optus customers should have been allowed to tap into the working Telstra towers.

“Why didn’t the two telcos work together on this – it would have saved a lot of heartache especially for many people who live alone on the island.”

Optus local general manager Nick Channell said it would not be possible for customers to use other towers.

Ms Harris said she was not surprised Energex crews had left it until Monday afternoon to take equipment to the islands as there was a lot of debris in Moreton Bay.

Mr Crisafulli acknowledged the deficit in the island telecommunications on Tuesday but welcomed $180 hardship payments to the areas.

The generator outside the police station was taken to the island on Thursday.

Redland Mayor Jos Mitchell visited Russell Island and its IGA on Tuesday and said Australian Defence Force personnel had helped clear 300 trees.

“The food stock was good and the power was on at the store where people were using the free power board to charge their phones,” she said.

“The number of connections has been reduced down to about 18,000 homes without power and that’s down from 48,000 so that’s substantial work by Energex to get everyone reconnected.”

In a statement, Optus said Russell Island had connectivity after a SatCat was delivered to the island’s southern side and a generator was delivered today for the northern side.

“Optus had been preparing the network by deploying generators, SatCats and technicians before and since the arrival of the cyclone to as many locations as possible including to the Logan region,” Optus said.

“A generator was sent to Logan before the cyclone and nine more were deployed as soon as the weather event started.

“Two more were sent on Tuesday.”

Optus said it had 39 sites in the Logan area which remained connected during the weather event, with 29 sites restored and staff were working to restore the remaining 16 sites.

Optus said it was not possible for generators to be in every site across the country.

Originally published as Russell Island phone blackout: Call for Telstra and Optus to work together to help residents