Media release - What will it take for the Albanese Labor Government to protect Australians?

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

21 November 2025

What will it take for the Albanese Labor Government to protect Australians?

Thousands of Samsung mobile phones using the TPG Telecom network are unable to access Triple Zero.

In late October, it was identified that 71 Samsung mobile devices were not correctly connecting to the Triple Zero network. Australians were told 11 devices would no longer be operable and 60 devices required a software update to correct the issue. Impacted Australians were advised they had 28 days to act before their phones would be blocked from the network.

Shadow Minister for Communications, Melissa McIntosh MP said, “last week another family lost a loved one. They attempted to call Triple Zero from one of these Samsung devices, and those calls failed to connect. In this family’s greatest time of need they could not access the help they needed.”

“I have been advised that TPG Telecom customers who hold one of these impacted Samsung devices are unable to call Triple Zero. They do not have 28 days to update their software or get a new phone - their phones will not connect to Triple Zero right now.

“This is a public safety risk. I am appalled the Albanese Labor Government, the Minister for Communications, and ACMA as the regulator have failed to urgently act in the interests of all Australians.

“It is beyond comprehension that after the Optus outage in September where three people lost their lives that the Minister is complicit in yet another risk to Australian lives.

“I am urging all Australians with one of these Samsung devices to act on the message they have received to either update their software or get a new device. If your Samsung device runs through the TPG network via Vodafone, iiNet, Lebara, Kogan or felix, you cannot call Triple Zero.

“The Minister for Communications has again abandoned her post, when she should be alerting Australians that if they have one of these devices, they may not be able to call Triple Zero.

“The Albanese Labor Government must get its priorities in order. The Minister is the steward of the Triple Zero network. The Parliament has rushed legislation through to provide legislative power to a Triple Zero Custodian that has been in place since March and is still nowhere to be seen.

“The Albanese Labor Government and the telecommunications companies must urgently contact every person they can identify immediately.

“Since the Government won’t act, I’ve made this public safety announcement today because every Australian needs to have this information.”  

*Note: this release has been updated.