Aaron Bunch Journalist with Australian Associated Press | Collection of published work | + 61 484 008 119 | abunch@aap.com.au
Outage causes traffic jam at WA-NT border
Hundreds of travellers were stranded in an outback traffic jam at a Western Australian border crossing after a Telstra outage slowed G2G pass processing.
July 14, 2021
Hundreds of travellers have become stuck in an outback traffic jam near the border crossing between Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The 5km-long queue developed in the NT on Tuesday after a power failure at a Telstra exchange cut internet services across the Kimberley.
The outage caused long delays as checkpoint staff struggled to process WA border passes for travellers trying to enter WA.
Workers reportedly handed out bottled water to stranded travellers as temperatures neared 35C.
“A man from Kununurra came through this morning and said the traffic was backed up for about 5km,” Timber Creek Hotel manager Jacinta Beattie told AAP on Wednesday.
Hundreds of travellers had been staying in the tiny town, about 200km from the border, in recent weeks.
They’d been waiting for WA to ease its border restrictions for travellers from the NT, which happened on Monday.
Telstra service in the Kimberley have been restored and NT Police say there are currently no issues at the border crossing.