Tom French (Moore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025. This bill represents something simple yet profound: the guarantee that, when Australians dial triple 0, help is always within reach. It says that, in a country as advanced as ours, no person should ever hear silence at the other end of an emergency call. I commend the Minister for Communications, the Hon. Anika Wells MP, for her leadership in driving this reform.

This bill ensures Australians can rely on triple 0 in every community, including those I'm proud to represent in Moore. It establishes the office of the Triple Zero Custodian, an independent authority responsible for the integrity of our emergency call system. The custodian will oversee the service end to end, ensuring it works, carriers cooperate and accountability never falls through the cracks.

This reform is not theoretical. It comes directly from the lessons learned after the Optus outages of November 2023 and September 2025, events that left millions affected and some unable to reach triple 0. Those failures were unacceptable. They exposed a system with no single custodian, no unified command and no authority to coordinate carriers in real time. The Bean review, commissioned by this government, made it clear Australians deserve better. This bill delivers on what that review recommended—clarity, authority and accountability. It gives the ACMA new powers to direct industry participants when an emergency network is at risk. It allows lawful, rapid information sharing between carriers and government during crises, and it mandates transparency through annual reporting and ministerial oversight.

Together, these reforms will rebuild trust in one of the nation's most fundamental services, because, when you dial triple 0, you aren't calling a corporation; you are calling your community. You are calling the police officer, the paramedic or the firefighter, people who run towards danger while most of us run to safety. This bill gives them what they need most: a system that doesn't fail when seconds count. Those seconds can mean the difference between life and loss.

From Joondalup Health Campus to Hillarys Boat Harbour, our community depends on reliable communications to stay safe. Joondalup Police Station, Joondalup and Duncraig fire stations, St John and Joondalup depot rely on fast, accurate networks to coordinate responses. Our surf lifesaving clubs, Sorrento and Mullaloo, need to stay connected to emergency dispatchers. Our Whitfords volunteer sea rescue crew, operating from Hillarys and Ocean Reef, rely on uninterrupted contact with water police. Across Kingsley, Padbury, Craigie and Woodvale, families rest easier knowing that, if something goes wrong, triple 0 will answer.

This bill ensures that confidence is justified. It makes clear who is responsible when technology fails and ensures the right information reaches the right hands at the right moment. For too long, telecommunications law has lagged behind the technology it was meant to regulate. It never contemplated smartphones, Voice over Internet Protocol or cloud based routing across continents. This bill changes that, delivering accountability that has been missing for too long.

The custodian will coordinate between the ACMA, carriers and emergency call persons—Telstra and the National Relay Service—ensuring a single national view of performance and risk. They will hold industry to account and drive improvements before failure occurs. If a failure does occur, they will have the authority to act decisively and not wait for permission. That's the kind of reform Australians expect from a responsible government, from a Labor government.

This bill also strengthens the ACMA's powers to issue binding directions during emergencies. It allows the regulator to compel information quickly and direct carriers to restore services or implement workarounds without delay. In a crisis, every minute counts. We cannot afford bureaucratic ping-pong between regulators and providers. This bill ends that confusion. It puts the chain of command on paper and into practice. The custodian must report annually to the Minister for Communications and provide data for publication. Australians will know for the first time how the triple 0 system performs. Sunlight builds trust, and trust saves lives. Those opposite talk about transparency while using torches. We are hard-wiring the lights.

This bill is not just about technology; it's about people. When a nurse at Joondalup Health Campus calls for back-up, that's someone's family member whose life hangs in the balance. When a skipper off Ocean Reef issues a mayday, it's not statistics we are protecting; it's families. When members of the Wanneroo Joondalup SES coordinate through their radios, network reliability can determine whether homes stand or fall. It honours those who serve and the communities they protect. The right to access emergency services is fundamental. It gives real meaning to the right of life and health recognised under international law.

This bill ensures those rights are protected in practice, not just in principle. It ensures the infrastructure of our compassion, the ability to call for help, is fit for purpose. In Moore, we've seen how communication saved lives. When wild storms hit the suburbs from Kingsley to Ocean Reef, emergency calls and SES coordination made the difference between safety and disaster. Along our northern beaches, Whitfords Volunteer Sea Rescue and our lifesaving volunteers depend on those same links when lives are at risk offshore. This bill makes that connection stronger. It ensures that, even if one network fails, coordination does not. It ensures that information flows lawfully and rapidly between providers and oversight remains continuous, not only after the fact.

Some may ask whether these new powers will be used responsibly. The answer is yes. The bill includes strict limits on the custodian's power. ACMA oversight remains intact, and commercial confidentiality and privacy are protected under existing laws. This is targeted reform—precise, not heavy-handed. It is about coordination, not control. It has been developed through extensive consultation with industry, emergency services and state governments. That collaboration is a credit to Minister Wells and her department. They listened, learned and acted swiftly, turning the lessons of the Optus outage into lasting reforms.

Contrast that with the opposition's record. For nearly a decade, they oversaw a system where there were repeated warnings about fragile emergency communications, yet they delivered no structural reform to fix it. They presided over a system that relied on goodwill instead of good governance. When outages occurred, they ordered inquiries but never delivered legislative change. This government has done what they would not: create accountability, not just commentary. That is the difference between managing headlines and managing risk.

The people of Moore expect action, not excuses. They expect a government that invests in reliability and transparency. They know that, when a crisis hits, the only thing that matters is whether the call connects. This bill will ensure it will. In Joondalup and Currambine, families are connected through schools, workplaces and community sport. They need to know emergency services can find them fast. In Duncraig and Carine, where many residents are older Australians, uninterrupted access to triple zero is peace of mind. In Kingsley and Padbury, tradespeople on the road depend on mobile coverage to report accidents. Along the coast, in Sorrento, Marmion and Watermans Bay, surf lifesaving clubs coordinate with ambulances and police each summer. This bill supports all of them. It's as practical as a working phone line and as vital as a heartbeat.

This bill also sits within the broader agenda of national resilience. This government is investing in secure, modern infrastructure across energy, transport and communications. We are strengthening cybersecurity and emergency management capability and ensuring our laws reflect the interconnected world Australians now live in. The Triple Zero Custodian bill is part of that architecture—a quiet reform that will save lives precisely because most people will never notice it working. Reliability should be invisible. It should be expected. When systems fail, people notice. When they function flawlessly, society moves forward in safety.

I want to acknowledge extraordinary people who make the system work every day: the triple 0 operators, who stay calm under pressure; the dispatchers, who coordinate across multiple agencies in seconds; the first responders—police, firefighters, ambulance officers and Marine Rescue—who act on those calls; and the volunteers who drop everything to help strangers because that is what community means. They are the human face of this legislation. They deserve the certainty that, when someone needs them, the line will open, not fail. This bill honours their service.

At its heart, this bill affirms something deeply Australian—that in moments of crisis, we look after each other. That ethos underpins our emergency services, our social contract and democracy itself. Technology must serve that ethos, not undermine it. When we make our systems more reliable, we make our society more humane. That is the moral thread running through this legislation. As technology evolves—satellite networks, 5G, emergency apps—the custodian will ensure triple 0 evolves too. They will plan for continuity, redundancy and accessibility for people with disability or language barriers. That forward planning will prevent the next crisis rather than just reacting to it. It's what good governance looks like.

Emergency services are delivered locally but depend on national coordination. This bill reinforces that cooperation through structured communication and shared protocols. It builds unity of purpose between agencies that already work side-by-side under immense pressure. That is how we strengthen the federation in practice—through practical reform not rhetoric.

First responders in Moore don't ask for fanfare. They ask for systems that work, reliable networks, clear information and leadership that understands what is at stake. This bill delivers exactly that. It strengthens the communications backbone they depend on so they can focus on protecting lives and property. It says to every police officer, paramedic, firefighter and volunteer, 'We've got your back.' It says to every Australian, 'You will never be left without help because of a preventable communications failure.' That is government at its best.

Let me close with gratitude. To the minister, Anika Wells, thank you for your stewardship and determination. To the officials and experts who shaped this legislation, thank you for your diligence. To the first responders and volunteers in Moore, from Joondalup health campus to the firefighters at Joondalup and Duncraig fire stations, St John WA and the Marine Rescue crews, thank you for the lives you save. This bill is for you. It's for every Australian who dials triple 0 in fear and finds hope on the line. It's for every community that relies on the simple promise that help is always there.

This parliament has a duty to strengthen the systems that protect life. We cannot predict every emergency, but we can prepare for them. We cannot prevent every failure, but we can ensure that when failure comes the response is swift and coordinated. That is exactly what this bill achieves. It modernises our telecommunications safety net, provides clarity where confusion once reigned and turns the lessons of the past into safeguards for the future.

The strength of a society is measured not only in prosperity but in protection—how well it safeguards its people in their most vulnerable moments. This bill strengthens that protection and ensures that our emergency call service, a quiet miracle of modern governance, continues to serve every Australian every hour of every day. It ensures that when disaster strikes, the system holds. It ensures that trust in our institution is earned through performance, not assumption. And it reminds us that the work of government, at its best, is not loud; it's reliable. I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context