Telstra Cables

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:57): I rise today on behalf of two of my wonderful constituents from the Copper Coast area, Luke von Bertouch and Amy Nottle, who are going through an incredible ordeal through no fault of their own. Luke and Amy recently began the process of building their dream home, their forever home together. They commenced by buying a beautiful block of land at the Wallaroo Marina in late 2018, which they then planned to build their home on. As COVID hit and the financial impact took hold on their circumstances, they continued to press ahead and became eligible for some grants from the state and federal governments which would have made that financial burden a little bit easier to bear and make building their home a possibility.

Unfortunately for Amy and Luke, their plans were put on hold when it was discovered, unbeknownst to them, that a series of Telstra cables ran through their block and through another seven or so adjacent blocks, including some with houses already built upon them. In early February this year, they were in the process of levelling that block to lay their slab when they happened upon this Telstra fibre optic pit and the associated cables. They were horrified to discover that that pit and the cables that I referred to ran in such a shallow trench that they would be unable to build their house until some sort of treatment was applied.

This was never revealed between inspecting the block, purchasing the land or beginning to build the house. They were not notified by the real estate agency. They had it surveyed and that did not show anything. There were no encumbrances on the title and council had no record of these cables. That being the case, they were still committed to building their dream home and they pushed ahead and sought advice on how they could continue to build their home.

They then received a quote from Telstra for some $120,000 to deal with the cable and fibre optic pit. This was a cost that Telstra expected Luke and Amy to bear, despite the fact that they were completely unaware that the cable even existed, and they certainly were not the ones responsible for installing the cable upon residential blocks in a channel that was far too shallow.

Upon discovery of the pit and cables, Amy did the right thing. She called Dial Before You Dig, which resulted in evidence from Telstra that the cables would have been there for some 20 years. Considering that the site was only converted into a marina relatively recently, the cables would have had to have been laid, in my view, since that happened. Considering that those who laid it since the marina was developed would have known that they were going to become residential blocks, it should have been incumbent upon those who installed the cables to lay them deep enough to ensure that the land could host residential development in the future.

Luke and Amy have been given the absolute run-around in trying to seek a remedy for their problem. They have been to the Telecommunications Ombudsman, who did not address the question of whose responsibility it is to address this shortcoming. The South Australian Ombudsman himself absolved the Copper Coast Council of responsibility but did not go on to apply it to anyone. We have now written to the Attorney-General, who could only suggest that private legal advice would provide the best chance of recourse.

All Telstra has been able to do is provide an exorbitant quote to fix someone else's mistake. Telstra did reveal that approximately 12 years ago the cable was damaged when one of the homes adjacent was being built but that that was fixed at no cost to the resident and nothing was done to record the existence of the cable so that it would not happen again. Everyone Luke and Amy get in touch with seems to agree that it should not be their problem to deal with, but no-one is taking responsibility for it.

In my view, Luke and Amy should not have to bear the cost of almost $120,000 to remedy the cable situation. They purchased the block they wanted to build their forever home on without any forewarning that the cables even existed underneath it, and they justifiably would have assumed, considering that there were houses built on either side, that they would have been fine to build on theirs.

Someone needs to fix this problem for Amy and Luke. These are good people from my electorate who can contribute to our local community and who have done nothing wrong. It should be an exciting time for them—building their own home on the beautiful Wallaroo Marina with plenty to look forward to. Unfortunately, they are faced with this extraordinary stress and hold-ups in pursuing their home. I am going to keep going in to bat for them however I can and I will keep the house updated on things as we progress. I can only hope that things work out for the best for Amy and Luke because they are good people and I look forward to helping them.