Topics: Telstra outage
Heidi Murphy: Senator Sarah Henderson is on the line now, Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety. Thanks for your time, Senator.
Senator Henderson: A very good morning to you, Heidi.
Heidi Murphy: How many times did you call Triple Zero yesterday?
Senator Henderson: Oh look, I made two initial phone calls because, of course, when the Telstra outage happened, we were hearing nothing from Telstra, nothing from the government, and nothing, of course, from the regulator. And as the Shadow Minister for Communications, my first thought was for the health and safety of Australians, particularly, Heidi, after we had a number of people who died during the Triple Zero outage caused by Optus last September. So I was able to ascertain, and it was contrary to some information that I received earlier, that Triple Zero calls were not getting through. And look, I make no apology for doing my job – because we were hearing yesterday morning, we were hearing nothing about the outage, an outage that was causing chaos and deep distress right across the country. Remember, Heidi, Telstra network is critical infrastructure, and we have seen the government fail time and time again in relation to holding the telecommunications carriers to account. So, you know, I accept the criticism, Heidi, but as the Shadow Minister, I have a particular job to do, and I certainly take that job very seriously.
Heidi Murphy: What do you say to the critics?
Senator Henderson: Well, look, the government has been briefing out behind closed doors, you know, talking about me breaking the law.
Heidi Murphy: This is an email I’ve been sent from a listener saying this is outrageous, this is offensive.
Senator Henderson: I’m happy to address your question, the government was briefing out to media yesterday behind closed doors that there was a breach of the law. The law is very clear, it relates to those who make hoax or vexatious emergency calls. I wasn’t doing neither of those things, so I have to say, Heidi, in all honesty, these are desperate claims from a desperate minister. Let’s just look at the facts. Last September, there was a regulator inquiry initiated on the Optus Triple Zero outage. 10 months later, that inquiry is still continuing. That is why I have called for an urgent response from the regulator within seven days as to what has happened.
And as I speak right now, we’ve had another secondary breakdown in Telstra network. We’ve been advised this morning that there is still people who are ringing Triple Zero who cannot get through. It is unacceptable, Heidi. Every person who is in need of emergency help, when they call Triple Zero, they need to know they are going to get help, and so that’s why I’m calling for an urgent response from the regulator. The minister should be demanding that. She’s not doing that. I’m also calling for mobile network reliability standards, so that we know that the carriers have to be held to account on their performance, on their reliability on their maintenance of the network. This is an essential service, and frankly, what we are experiencing as a country is just not good enough.
Heidi Murphy: I’ll move on from this in a second but have you tried them again today? Have you tried Triple Zero again today?
Senator Henderson: No, I haven’t.
Heidi Murphy: You don’t feel the same sense of urgency that you felt yesterday? I’m genuinely asking you that. I mean, you tried it yesterday, you make no apology for trying it. You’ve outlined the reasons that you tried it yesterday, but we’re talking about another issue today. Have you tried it today?
Senator Henderson: No, of course I haven’t. Telstra has made it clear that people should not make test calls. That advice came in after I made those initial calls. I was getting contrary advice, saying that there was no problem. Because what happens when there’s an outage – the way the system is meant to work is – if you are a Telstra customer and you call Triple Zero, that call is meant to what’s called “camp on”, it camps onto another carrier’s network, Optus or TPG. Now that’s the way the system is meant to work. That is not working, that is deeply concerning. Because when people call Triple Zero, they need to know they can get help. And so this is a huge issue, people died last year.
Heidi Murphy: I agree entirely but listen, why are we still at an inquiry level? What’s so complicated?
Senator Henderson: Well, this is what’s outrageous, is that ACMA, the regulator, initiated an inquiry last September, and we still have no result of that inquiry. We still don’t know whether Optus is guilty of any breach of the law. There’s been no indication as to whether Optus will be fined. We have heard nothing but silence. And look, I have to say, if I was a minister, I would be demanding that ACMA come back to me with an urgent interim report, including what measures, if any, can be done to make the network more resilient. I mean, I would be really demanding immediate action. The other thing that I just want to mention, Heidi, is that there was a Bean Review, and there was a number of recommendations after the outage back in 2023, one of those recommendations is that the Triple Zero network is not fit for purpose, and there needs to be a regulatory review. It took the minister, Anika Wells, two years to make that announcement. So, again, what we’re seeing, and the reason I am raising…
Heidi Murphy: So she made the announcement that it’s not fit for service and that there needs to be a review but she hasn’t announced a review?
Senator Henderson: Yes, there’s a number of reviews, the Bean recommendation to review the entire Triple Zero regulatory framework. That recommendation was made a number of years ago but it took her two years to announce that review, and with the government now conceding that the Triple Zero network is not fit for purpose. So I guess what I am concerned about is that we have not seen sufficient urgency from the minister, from the Albanese government and that is just not good enough.
Heidi Murphy: Do other countries just have mandatory roaming, so that if one thing happens to one service, everything switches across to another?
Senator Henderson: Look, I can’t speak for what happens in every country, but certainly there are different roaming options available in different countries. We still don’t have temporary disaster roaming which was promised by the minister, that still has not been initiated. But certainly there have been improvements to the Triple Zero network, so that now when you make a call, and in the case of Telstra, when there’s an outage, that phone call is meant to camp on or switch over to another network, so that that call goes through. And now we’ve learned today that there’s this secondary issue, where some people were told by Telstra when they make a call to Triple Zero, some customers are receiving an error message. So Telstra is actually saying, look, just hold on the line or try and call back on a different phone. But it is scary. It is scary because we depend on Triple Zero to provide life-saving assistance when it’s required. And as we know, last year a number of people died, that was very traumatic. And yet we still have no answers, no accountability, no understanding as to whether there’s been breaches of the law, and I’m sure there has been breaches of law by Optus. And again, I just emphasise, Heidi, that the government must do a much better job to act with a sufficient urgency, that’s just not happening and that needs to change.
Heidi Murphy: Okay, thank you very much for your time this morning.
Senator Henderson: Thanks so much, Heidi.