PTEE: Outage leaves 1161 without power, our thanks to you, wrong number and more

It was initially unknown what caused the outage, but Essential Energy later reported it was due to faulty equipment.

‘‘Network protection equipment activated at 8.24am after detecting a fault on the high voltage electricity network,’’ acting operations manager for the Murray Glenn Costello said.

‘‘Attending crews discovered faulty equipment was the cause of the power outage. Necessary repairs were completed and power was restored to all customers by 10am.’’

Customers are encouraged to report a power outage to 13 20 80 or visit essentialenergy.com.au/outages for updates.

Pioneers’ book

Work is moving along steadily on a book which will feature many of Deniliquin’s 19th century pioneers.

The Deniliquin Genealogy Society project is scheduled for a November launch, in time for pre-Christmas sales.

It will feature a vast range of individuals who played their role in laying the foundations for the town and district as we know it today.

Among those featured is Dr D. G. Jones, founder of the Pastoral Times in 1859 and a driving force behind many other community campaigns.

Our thanks to you

While many newspapers have struggled to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, at the PT we’re determined to ensure a continuation of our long history which now spans more than 160 years since the above-mentioned D. G. Jones published the first edition.

We’d like to thank our many loyal readers and advertisers who continue to make this possible. 

Special thanks to those who have taken up our special subscription offer and now get the PT online, as well as home delivered.

If you want to join them or find out more, go to www.denipt.com.au/join, or phone 1300 834 619.

Government helps too

Thanks also to governments at different levels who have supported regional newspapers through this difficult time.

We have had great support from local government, especially Edward River Council with its COVID-19 and other messages, as well as the Commonwealth Government which understands the vital communication role of local newspapers and has used our pages to keep communities informed.

Mention also to state Member for Murray Helen Dalton, our federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley and Nationals Senator Perin Davey who have also willingly promoted COVID-19 health and safety advice through our pages.

Unfortunately, our thanks does not go to the NSW Berejiklian Government which, unlike other state governments, doesn’t think those who live outside NSW (that’s North Sydney, Sydney and West Sydney) deserve to be kept well informed.

Its messaging in regional communities throughout the pandemic has been appalling.

Except Gladys

The Berejiklian Government’s response to informing regional communities of important health and safety information has been in stark contrast to our near neighbours in Victoria.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced last month that his Government, recognising the vital role played by rural newspapers, would include at least one full page of information each week in every local paper across the state.

Premier Glad seems to reckon that if it’s not on Google or Facebook it doesn’t really matter. (And can she tell us again, how much tax do they pay? What contribution do they make to our state?)

Helen will be happy

So, before we get off our soapbox, if readers notice limited mention of the NSW Government in our pages, it’s for good reason.

Ourselves, along with other local newspapers across the state, are giving as little coverage as possible to our Sydney government as our protest at the way it treats our industry.

We contacted the Deputy Premier John Barilaro and have supported efforts of our state newspaper association, Country Press NSW, tried to garner his support to address the contempt with which local newspapers are treated by the NSW Government, but he wasn’t interested.

We’re sure Helen Dalton will be delighted at the ongoing lack of attention, because on current trends we reckon there is zero chance of the Nats winning our seat back any time soon.

Not a nice plan

Why, we ask, would a media bureaucrat be asking local people to write to politicians about the Murray-Darling Basin Plan?

And why would the target be senior local ladies?

A bit strange, but we’re told that’s what has been happening in Deni.

And some digging suggests the originating source could well be the much-maligned Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

That being the case, our only conclusion is they are trying (desperately?) to find people who will say nice things about the Basin Plan. Good luck with that!

Just a thought

And while talking about communications and MDBA, could we perhaps make a wild suggestion?

How about it sends some communication people to the area so they get a better idea of the anger and angst surrounding their botched plan.

A few years back, the PT had a call from a journo who was thinking about applying for a job with MDBA communications.

‘‘I just want to get an idea of how often they get to towns like Deniliquin, to find out what’s actually happening on the ground?’’ he asked.

He was rather shocked with an answer that was something like ‘‘are you kidding?’’ Getting out of their Canberra bubble to towns like Deni is not something the MDBA bureaucrats include in their calendar.

Wrong number

Now, we’re sure Deniliquin residents were delighted to receive the latest Telstra phone book which was delivered this week to each household.

But we suspect everyone would have been even more pleased if they had received the book for our region.

Telstra and other companies involved with telecommunications have had ongoing struggles for many years trying to understand that Deniliquin is attached to the Shepparton zone, not the Wagga Wagga zone.

Which is probably why we have all been given the Wagga Wagga directory.

We know some books have already found their way into the rubbish bin, which is probably the best place.