Media release - Government dragged to act on Triple Zero crisis

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

6 October 2025 

Government dragged to act on Triple Zero crisis

The Communications Minister this morning said she loses sleep as the steward of the telecommunications system, the very system that is in crisis due the Albanese Labor Government’s lack of leadership.

If the Minister is so personally impacted, why then did she fly to New York on a promo tour in the middle of the Triple Zero outage disaster?

Almost three weeks on from the fatal Optus Triple Zero outage, the Communications Minister has finally set up a meeting with phone providers on the reliability of Australians to use the system.

The CEOs of Optus, Telstra and TPG have been summoned to Canberra on Tuesday to update the government on what they are doing to reduce Triple Zero outages.

This should not be a closed-door meeting. At the very least, the Minister should front the Australian public afterwards and explain what actions she is making the telcos take to ensure the community has a fully functioning Triple Zero system.

Parliament is sitting this week, and the Opposition is yet to receive draft legislation to give the Triple Zero custodian the powers it needs. The government has sat on this recommendation from the Bean Review into Optus’ 2023 outage since March 2024.

Shadow Communications Minister, Melissa McIntosh MP, has called for a publicly accessible Triple Zero register to ensure there is confidence in the system. The Opposition is reiterating its calls for a full and thorough investigation into the Triple Zero network ecosystem. The Australian Communications and Media Authority should not be undertaking the review when they have been part of the failed process.

“The Minister said today she’s been losing sleep because of the Triple Zero disaster, but she was fine to fly to New York whilst Australians lost confidence in our most essential phone service,” said Mrs McIntosh.

“It is now almost three weeks on from the first Optus outage where tragically four people died. It is extraordinary that it has taken this Minister so long to haul in the telecommunications CEOs to answer questions on their work to ensure the Triple Zero network is reliable.

“The contents of tomorrow meetings should be made available to the public. It is up to the Minister to explain to Australians what she is doing to make sure confidence is restored in our Triple Zero network.

“If the Minister wants to make it look like the government is acting on the Triple Zero outages, then she should have been focused on implementing the Bean Review recommendations instead of hopping on a plane across the other side of the world.

“The Coalition is still awaiting legislation to give the Triple Zero custodian the powers it needs to keep telcos responsible and enforce the reliability of the end-to-end performance of the Triple Zero network.

“Bushfire season is fast approaching, and the Minister has just woken up to this fact after I’ve raised it many times. The Triple Zero network is Australia’s most important phone service, and the community must have full confidence that in their greatest time of need, they can call Triple Zero for immediate assistance.

“On behalf of the Coalition, I am continuing my call to have a full independent inquiry into the Triple Zero system and the need to have a public register of Triple Zero outages for transparency and accountability of our vital Triple Zero network.”