Woman who won $15m apartment block could not be contacted during Telstra outage
A former soldier who won a $15 million apartment on the Sunshine Coast could not be contacted about his new fortune during Telstra’s nationwide outage.
Representatives of the Dream Home Art Association called the former sailor many times and tried to tell him about the award that would change his life, but could not reach him.
The outage has left millions of Australians without mobile phone coverage, left tens of thousands of businesses without digital payments and brought public transport to a halt last Wednesday.
The team eventually emailed the winner, known as Riley, and she called back using her neighbor’s phone.
Riley burst into tears when she learned she won.
“The kids are trying to get into the housing market and it’s impossible. I told the bank manager the other day that we have to wait for now because they don’t have enough money yet,” he said.
Geelong’s winner won four flats, including $280,000 in gold and more than $500,000 in furniture.
Riley said the win would help ease the financial pressure on their family.
“You don’t know how much you changed our lives,” he said.
“I just want to be an ordinary person. I just want to be kind to people and do nice things.”
“I’ve started doing a lot of crafts and I want to create things that help people’s mental health. This could just be the beginning of everything.”
“All I can say is thank you.
Riley has been supporting RSL Queensland by purchasing tickets for the two decades since he won the multimillion-dollar prize.
Dream Home Arts Alliance supports veterans and their families through RSL Queensland.
“This is something so close to my heart, this is my little contribution,” he said.
Dream Home Art Union’s next draw will be the $14 million Gold Coast penthouse overlooking Snapper Rocks.
