ABC News: Peter Lacey
)Consumer advocates have welcomed a move by Telstra to establish its first Indigenous call centre, as the telco continues to make reparations with remote First Nations customers it admitted to exploiting.
The First Nations Connect centre, which opened in Darwin on Wednesday, will connect remote customers with Indigenous call centre operators who can have culturally aware discussions, in some cases in Indigenous languages.
"This is a call centre that is dedicated to First Nations people in remote communities to address telecommunications questions and issues they have," Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said.
"It's completely manned by First Nations people as well, who can connect with those communities and have empathy with those communities."
The centre opening comes months after Telstra admitted to unconscionable conduct in its dealings with more than 100 Indigenous customers who signed contracts they did not understand and could not afford.
The ACCC found each of those customers had an average debt of more than $7,400.
The telco is now facing a $50 million fine after the consumer watchdog initiated proceedings in the Federal Court.
The ACCC also said many of the customers affected — many of whom live across the Northern Territory — spoke English as a second or third language, and urged Telstra to establish an Indigenous-led call centre.
Thecla Brogan, a Tiwi Islands woman who will lead the new call centre, said her team of eight people could speak with customers in more than 14 languages.
"It's been great to even tell our own families they can call in and they can talk to us directly about having their calls answered," she said.
"Some of the great work that Thecla and her team is doing is making sure people understand what is the plan — the best plan — for their needs," Mr Penn said.
"It's obviously important that we don't allow Indigenous people or any other vulnerable customer for that matter get into a situation where they've got the wrong plan."
He said the telco had made other changes — including taking control of licensee stores, promoting digital literacy and buying back debts — as it worked to address the issues identified by the ACCC.
Darwin-based financial counsellor Toni Cork, who worked with many NT customers to reduce their debts, welcomed the call centre as "another step forward".
"I'm quietly optimistic they will do the right thing and this will help our clients, and not just put another step in place for them to get an outcome that they need," she said.
"We'll be keeping a close eye on it and certainly feeding back any concerns to Telstra, but hopefully the feedback that Telstra gets from us will all be positive, and it will all be working."
