I fear it will happen in Tasmania

TONY ROYCE

Some years ago (in the 90’s), in Sydney, Optus strung up their broadband cabling on the existing power poles. By necessity the cables were slung well below the existing power lines but as these cables would then have been in contact with trees in many places the offending branches in the trees were simply hacked off. This “vandalism” was done without any regard for the well being of the tree, the resulting imbalance, the uglinessw or the awful degradation to the environment and a blighting of the landscapel. I fear the same thing is about to take place here in Tasmania when Aurora get into action, which I believe will be this month.
My fear is heightened because of the awful track record and unenvieble reputation that Aurora have in customer relations. Politicians of all persuasions tell me that they receive a constant flood of complaints from consumers about Aurora, which is a wholly owned Government corporation. I believe that Aurora is not a good corporate citizen, that they are inept at what they do (we suffer power failures here in Perth (Tas.) every time there is a storm) and that, at least, some of their activities are based on corporate greed.

However, of even more concern is the potential for increased risk to the general public through the cabling being attached to the existing power poles adding further stress to these poles and exacerbating that risk, certainly when storms are prevailing. It seems to me that power poles criss-crossing suburban streets is a very much outdated system anyway, which belongs back in the 19th century, and should not be part of a modern inhabited environment. On contacting Telstra just very recently to see if I could get a broadband connection here in Perth I was told yes, we have a cable already underground. Now I understand that Telstra is very much out of favour with the Federal Government these days but perhaps a little pragmatism should prevail here. This is surely a golden opportunity for power lines and broadband cables to all go underground?

Aurora refuse to listen to a mere “voice in the wilderness” such as mine and given their intransigence on other matters probably won’t listen to anyone else either. It seems to me that what is required is an injunction to curb, what I see as, the irresponsible activities of Aurora with their cabling. I suppose this would involve the High Court . . .? AND would anybody really be up to it?