Media release - Further Triple Zero outages impacting Australians

Melissa McIntosh MP 
Shadow Minister for Communications 
Shadow Minister for Women 
Federal Member for Lindsay

29 September 2025 

Further Triple Zero outages impacting Australians

Over the weekend, there have been reports of more Triple Zero outages across the country.

An NBN outage in Western Australia prevented triple zero calls being made last Friday, with around 700 residences impacted due to a ‘hardware fault’.

The Optus network was down again yesterday for almost 12 hours for the Dapto community in New South Wales which again impacted triple zero calls. At this stage one family needed to use another phone provider to get assistance. Optus advises welfare checks are continuing.

These further outages are putting Australian lives at risk.

The Government has a responsibility to ensure the triple zero network is always fully operational, and when there is a fault communities must be notified immediately – not after the fact.

Exactly how many outages are there each year that we don’t know about?

This is now the third reported triple zero failure in just 10 days on the government’s watch. While Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister, Anika Wells have been overseas at taxpayers expense, we have a crisis unfolding here at home that is being ignored.

On behalf of the Coalition, I am calling for an urgent, independent investigation, into not just Optus but the full triple zero ecosystem.

Australians must have confidence they can call Triple Zero, our most essential telecommunications service, when they need it.