Aaron Violi (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I understand that those opposite have drawn the short straw and have to try and defend the indefensible because the Minister for Communications is missing, but let's make two things quite clear. When three Australians pass away, possibly four, and 600 Australians make that call that nobody wants to make to triple 0 to get the help that they need, when we call out the failings of the Minister for Communications, who is responsible for communications in this country, it is not playing politics. It is called accountability. If you are prepared to put your hand up to be the Minister for Communications in this country, you need to be prepared to take responsibility for the triple 0 emergency system. That is your responsibility. That is your job. Everyone in this House, including the government, backbenchers and ministers, knows this, and, unfortunately for those opposite, they have to run a protection line for a minister who is not up to the job.

They are rightly saying that Optus are at fault. Absolutely, Optus are to blame for this situation, and Optus should be held to account. We should do everything possible to hold Optus to account. In fact, this morning, the coalition, seeking to work in a bipartisan way, put an amendment to this legislation that was very simple and very clear. It sought to double the penalty to Optus from $10 million to $20 million—a very simple amendment. Every person on the opposite side that will stand to speak, every member of this government, made a conscious decision to vote against that amendment and look after Optus. They need to defend that decision to their communities, and they need to defend that decision to those families who lost loved ones and those families that called triple 0 and had it not pick up. They made a conscious choice to protect Optus over the Australian people. So we will not be lectured to about the accountability of Optus. Optus are absolutely accountable. We sought to hold them to account, and this government did not want to work with us in that way.

As I've said, the Minister for Communications is responsible for communications in this country. This minister is so out of her depth. After five months in the portfolio since sitting on the government benches since 2022, she claims that she is a new minister and not able to do her job correctly. We sought to help that minister. We sought to move another amendment to make sure that the triple 0 network was defined as a critical infrastructure and an asset of national significance. That's a very simple amendment. You would think everyone would agree, after listening to the member for Boothby and the member for Spence about how important the triple 0 network is, that it would be critical infrastructure and an asset of national significance. But no—according to the government and those opposite, it is not, because they made the decision to vote against an amendment to make it critical infrastructure and an asset of national significance.

As we come into the bushfire season in my community, disasters are a fact of life. My community will be interested to know that the government doesn't think that it's critical infrastructure and an asset of national significance to be able to call the CFA if there's a bushfire in my community. The coalition knows it is. Again, those opposite will have to go back to their communities. I look forward to those opposite that represent regional and rural communities explaining to their communities how it's not critical infrastructure to be able to call triple 0 to alert the CFA of a fire or to call an ambulance service when your family needs it. They are the facts about what this government decided to do. They are so afraid of scrutiny and the minister is so out of her depth that those opposite voted against an independent committee to make sure that triple 0 would work, that the telcos would be held to account, that ACMA would be held to account and that the minister will be held to account. The minister knows they failed. That's why they voted against an independent committee, and it is a shame and a disgrace for all Australia.

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