Alison Byrnes (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Our triple 0 system is an Australian staple and one that all of us have come to rely upon as a given, to be there when we need it. It's well known, it's trusted and it's essential. That's because the triple 0 system saves lives, and that is why it is completely unacceptable to see that system fail during an outage of a telecommunications provider. This simply should not ever happen, and our government has been working hard to make sure that it doesn't.

During the first Optus outage in September, 631 calls could not connect to triple 0, and this cost lives. That is completely devastating, and my heart goes out to those families who tragically lost a loved one. It should not have happened, and it is reprehensible. Then, just 10 days later, came another outage in my region. Nine calls to triple 0 did not go through thanks to the Optus outage in Dapto on 28 September, which was caused by an issue with an Optus mobile phone tower. We were lucky that there do not appear to have been any adverse outcomes for those callers, but that is by pure luck and chance, and we know how easily that can go the other way. One person, I understand, was forced to use someone else's phone to call for an ambulance, so clearly there were other services that could fill that gap, and that is the law. If an outage occurs, emergency calls must be redirected to alternative mobile towers. That is the responsibility of all telcos in Australia. So why weren't they?

Already our government has directed the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate what happened to cause these failures. These were Optus's failures, and they are unacceptable. Every telco has a responsibility to ensure that Australians can connect to emergency services when they need to. Optus failed, and we will not only find out why but also hold them to account. The minister has been very clear that there will be consequences, and so there should be.

In the meantime, we have taken action to ensure that this can't happen again. We've introduced the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025. This critical bill will immediately strengthen government oversight of the triple 0 system. It enshrines the Triple Zero Custodian framework into law and gives ACMA powers to act quickly and decisively. It also gives government the ability to step in during outages.

As the minister has said, we have announced six key points to make sure the triple 0 system is as resilient and safe as it can be. We've introduced that legislation. We're introducing real-time reporting of outages to ACMA and to emergency services so that everyone can know when these outages are happening and take steps to address them straightaway.

Telcos will also now be required to test triple 0 during upgrades and maintenance, and there will be new requirements to fully ensure that triple 0 calls will go through to another network—something the law already requires. We will make sure they meet it. Additionally, there will now be mandatory improvement plans after triple 0 outages, and the new custodian will issue additional performance requirements to telcos, through ACMA, within six months of these new laws. This is decisive action. This is tough action. This will make sure that Australians can be confident that triple 0 will be there for them when they need it.

Minister Wells has worked hard on this. She has worked fast on this. Our government is taking the action that we need to right now. Under these laws, ACMA will have new statutory powers to issue binding directions to carriers, carriage service providers and emergency call persons. It will be able to mandate specific actions and it will ensure that all stakeholders are informed as soon as possible to ensure a coordinated response.

I reiterate: this is a failing of Optus. The law already required that triple 0 calls not fail, and Optus has let our community down. Under the new laws, telcos will face significant consequences—as they should—if they don't act as they must, if they don't provide the information that they must during an outage. We take this seriously, and this new bill demonstrates that. I would encourage those opposite to stop playing political games and get on board with what our government has done. Fast, strong and effective action to protect all Australians. That's what we will continue to do because that's what all Australians deserve.

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