Media release - What’s the secret deal? Labor and the Greens unite against the safety of Australians

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

28 October 2025

What’s the secret deal? Labor and the Greens unite against the safety of Australians

Labor and the Greens have joined forces to side with big telcos, voting down stronger protections for the Triple Zero emergency network.

Shadow Minister for Communications, Melissa McIntosh MP, said Labor and the Greens rejected Coalition plans to lift fines for telcos who fail to keep Triple Zero working to up to $40 million, opposed a public Triple Zero outage register and more regular public reporting for the Triple Zero Custodian.

“Triple Zero is a matter of life and death. If the system fails, Australians pay the price. The Coalition put forward $40 million penalties because that reflects the seriousness of these failures. Labor and the Greens chose weaker fines that let the telcos off the hook,” Mrs McIntosh said.

Equally alarming is Labor’s plan to hand control of outage reporting to the telcos themselves.

“The Coalition has called for a genuine public register run by the Government’s Triple Zero Custodian, with real-time transparency. Labor and the Greens voted this down. The Government’s model puts the telcos in charge of marking their own homework. It is secrecy dressed up as accountability, and Australians deserve better.”

“Shorter reporting timeframes with the reports made public were also voted down by the Labor-Greens alliance today. This means less accountability and transparency from the Government’s Triple Zero Custodian.

“Triple Zero is the one line between a family in crisis and the help they need. Instead of putting people first, Labor and the Greens have sided with big telcos for weaker penalties and a sham register. That is not leadership, that is a betrayal.

“The Coalition will continue to fight for stronger fines, genuine transparency, and a Triple Zero system Australians can trust.”