Home Australia Sam Newman slams Telstra’s dedicated Indigenous call line saying it makes jumping the queue even easier

Sam Newman slams Telstra’s dedicated Indigenous call line saying it makes jumping the queue even easier

0 comments
Sam Newman has sparked controversy as a media figure in the past and made headlines for his comments on Welcome to the Country.

A Telstra call center phone line dedicated to Indigenous people has been criticized by former football player Sam Newman for allowing Aboriginal customers to skip the queue.

The Darwin-based call center hotline was the subject of a scathing attack by the AFL veteran during last week’s episode of Newman’s You Cannot Be Serious podcast.

Newman’s co-host shared a story about a woman from Kununurra in Western Australia who had to wait 15 minutes on a call with Telstra to top up her phone card.

However, she told him he had the option of pressing a number if he identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

He punched in the number and then contacted customer service “directly,” he said.

The co-host said he had since discovered that Telstra had a dedicated Aboriginal line that customers could use to “skip the queue”.

‘Why doesn’t everyone do it?’ Newman said in response. ‘Indigenous peoples: why do they manage to get through while the rest of us wait in line?

‘This will come to… you’ll go see a movie and there will be a queue for Caucasian people. And here there will be a line for anyone whose skin color is not white.

Sam Newman has sparked controversy as a media figure in the past and made headlines for his comments on Welcome to the Country.

“It’s basically segregation and it’s people on the left suggesting it, that’s what’s incredible,” co-host Richard Wolstencroft responded.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Telstra for comment.

The telecommunications company announced in October 2021 that it would open a call center in Darwin to serve Indigenous customers.

“Every year we receive 25,000 calls from indigenous communities,” he said in a statement at the time.

‘From today, when our First Nations Connect contact center opens, these calls will be handled by a dedicated center based in Darwin, using regional and Indigenous heritage staff.

“We also anticipate that some of these calls will be answered and resolved in the language of our Indigenous customers.”

Telstra denied that the call center allowed Indigenous people to skip the queue faced by the rest of the community.

Telstra announced in October 2021 that it would open a call center in Darwin to serve Indigenous customers.

Telstra announced in October 2021 that it would open a call center in Darwin to serve Indigenous customers.

“Telstra’s First Nations Connect hotline is supported by a small team dedicated to serving our most remote customers,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

‘It also provides culturally appropriate customer service to our First Nations customers.

‘The First Nations Connection Team is based in Darwin and is staffed solely by First Nations officers.

‘The team has access to interpretation services with approximately 50 different First Nations languages ​​and dialects, to support clients where English is a second or third language.

‘This service has been available for over 15 years.’

Newman has generated controversy as a media figure in the past and made headlines for his comments about indigenous culture.

In September he urged Australians to boo the “welcome to country” ceremony at the AFL grand final.

You may also like