The first stage of the campaign begins today across the region and will encourage south-west residents to shop locally over the Christmas-New Year period. 

Telstra has committed $200,000 to the marketing campaign that will feature radio and newspaper advertisements reaching people from Mount Gambier to Colac. 

Telstra Countrywide south-west general manager Bill Mundy said the company knew of the significant impact of the outage and wanted to encourage people to spend their money in the region in the lead-up to and post Christmas. 

The second stage of the campaign will start after Christmas and run into early January. It will encourage local people who have friends and relatives visiting to show them the attractions and experiences in the region., the aim being to entice them to consider a relocation to the south-west. 

The third and major phase of the campaign will be developed in the new year.

The campaign has been developed through Shipwreck Coast Marketing with input from all municipalities affected by the outage. 

Shipwreck Coast Marketing chief executive officer Carole Reid said the campaign was not just about tourism but considered retail, services and broader business. 

She said the third stage  would consider input from all municipalities prior to the development of the campaign.

The $200,000 from Telstra was announced at yesterday’s Great South Coast group meeting in Warrnambool.

Great South Coast group chief executive Karen Foster said the organisation was thrilled about the funding.

In other developments regarding the Telstra outage, non-Telstra telephone customers are calling for clear guidelines on how to get compensation and rebates.

Wannon MP Dan Tehan said his tours to south-west communities this week revealed householders and businesses had problems getting answers about compensation and rebates from other telcos.

“This issue really needs to be sorted out by all telcos getting together to work out the process,” he said.

“It will be raised at Monday morning’s hearing in Warrnambool of the federal parliamentary inquiry.

“A question will also be asked about the tax liability of compensation payments to people affected by the phone outage.”

The Standard understands Telstra spoke to other telcos about the Warrnambool outage and encouraged them to speak with customers about compensation.

The hearing will be at the Lighthouse Theatre from 10am and will be chaired by Rosemary Sinclair, of the Regional Telecommuni-cations Independent Review Committee. Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy representatives will attend.  

Meanwhile, some businesses have been seeking legal help in assessing their claims to Telstra.

Justin Serong, a litigations partner with Maddens Lawyers of Warrnambool, said yesterday there had been several requests from small through to large business operators.

“Our role at this stage is in helping people assessing if the offer they’ve been given is fair and reasonable,” Mr Serong said.

“The extent and complexity of losses will vary a lot.”

Mr Serong said there had been no decision at this stage on whether to launch a class action.

pcollins@fairfaxmedia.com.au