Transcript - Joint press conference with Dr Anne Webster MP - Parliament House - 8 October 2025

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

Dr Anne Webster MP
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications
Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories

8 October 2025

Transcript

Joint press conference – Parliament House, ACT.

Topics: Triple Zero outage; Triple Zero inquiry; Amendments; House inquiry. 

E&EO …

Melissa McIntosh MP

We've got to remember why we're standing here. We're in Parliament House and in Parliament you represent the Australian people. With the Optus outage, four people sadly died during that time and that's why, on behalf of the Coalition, the Shadow Minister for Regional Communication, myself, have been pushing so hard to get answers.

I have an email here now that's just come out of Senate estimates saying, ‘Good afternoon, team. I've just been informed that the office has received reports that some customers in Southern Australia and Western Australia are experiencing impacts to triple zero calls.’ This was sent Thursday, the 18th of September, 2:45pm. Who's on this email list? The Minister's office. The Minister's office received notification on the Thursday. The Minister stood up in Parliament yesterday and told the Australian people she did not find out and her office did not find out until Friday. The Minister has misled the Parliament, she has misled the Australian public, and it is clear and plain to see in this email, as revealed by Senate estimates.

We have been working today pretty hard since we've been receiving information bit by bit, Anne and myself, but it was only 24 hours notice to receive the legislation that the Government had the opportunity to put forward for a year and a half. So, we worked with our colleagues, we got some amendments. I think they were really important amendments to improve the bill in the interests of Australians. These were to increase the fines from $10 million to $20 million because the Minister stood in question time yesterday and she said this isn't the Government's fault, it is Optus’ fault. So, we enabled the government to increase the fine, to have a big stick and take it to Optus, to take it to any telecommunications service that let Australians down and they voted that down. They let Australians down when they said no to increasing the fine from $10 million doubling it to $20 million.

We think that the Triple Zero service is critical infrastructure. Australians have critical infrastructure in water, in sewerage, in energy, and they're the things that people need for their daily lives. They also need to be able to call Triple Zero in their greatest time of need. The Government voted this very serious amendment down. I've been calling for weeks for a public register of every single Triple Zero outage so the public can see what's going on, so there is transparency. I don't think that's too much to ask. The government just voted that down and I think that there should be reporting - not every six months after a triple zero outage where people died - every three months, and for that to be made public and once again the government voted that down.

There's one more piece to this puzzle and today I ask the Parliament to put a committee together, a standing committee for the Government, the Opposition and crossbenchers to have a further investigation into this outage in the whole Triple Zero network. And we want Australians to be able to have their say, to come to Parliament and tell their stories right across the regions, the cities of what's been going on. That's fair. I don't think that's political, and the government voted that down. So, between the email that the Minister's office received on the Thursday after the outage and she said she didn't know until the Friday to our amendments, our sensible amendments that we worked really hard on for 24 hours, that's all we got, to not having a committee to oversee to have a look into what occurred, it is a dismay. Australians have every right to be very upset with this government. Their top job is to protect their citizens and they're just not doing it. I'll ask Anne to say a few words who also had some amendments.

Dr Anne Webster MP

Thank you, Melissa. Regional Australians know what it is to be treated as second class citizens, and I've got to say they are fed up with it. This government, by not accepting the amendments that I brought today that focuses on regional, rural and remote Australians is another slap in the face for regional Australians. It shows once again that Labor is focused on city votes, not on people, the people of Australia and particularly those out in the regions. It is simply not good enough. The Minister got up when I presented my amendments today and she said my amendments were unnecessary. And she said to the Shadow Minister that the amendments didn't give her enough time to look at the detail of the amendments. The amendments were not complicated, let's make that very, very clear. She gave us legislation with less than 24 hours for us to review and approve. Just tick and flick, which is how they operate. We don't operate that way. We put our heads down and we reviewed the legislation, and we came to a decision that amendments needed to be made. We made those amendments in good faith, and I know that the Shadow Minister had good faith discussions with the Minister's office. They decided they didn't have enough time, nor enough staff apparently, with the entire department at their back to review those amendments and agree to them. They are letting Australians down from the top of Australia to the bottom of Australia, from the east to the west. This is absolutely unAustralian and it's a really sad day for those of us who live out in the regions in particular.

Journalist

Ms McIntosh, can I ask two questions? First of all, the email that you just held up, is that the same email that was sent to the wrong address by Optus or is this a separate email?

Melissa McIntosh MP

This is what's been disputed in the Senate right now, who received an email. It's a disgrace. You've got the Department being advised, you've got ACMA, the regulator being advised and you've got the Minister's office being advised, yet nobody could open an email and action it.

Journalist

But if Optus sent that email to the wrong address?

Melissa McIntosh MP

No, that’s just part of it. The wrong address is not the Minister's address. The wrong address, as we were in the Chamber, was for the Department. So, there are two other players here. You've got ACMA the regulator receiving an email, the Department and the Minister's very own office. They didn't get three email addresses wrong. So, what went on? Why couldn't anyone open this email and act on it? This is a Triple zero outage. The Minister, I believe - maybe you could ask her and she can face the public - misled the Parliament yesterday when she said her office did not find out until Friday.

Journalist

And just secondly, the Bean Review looked at a number of issues across the Triple Zero ecosystem. What are you hoping to achieve out of this review that you were pushing for, this inquiry that you were pushing for, that wasn't already canvassed?

Melissa McIntosh MP

The Bean Review was different. We wanted to enable Australians to have their say on what's going on. We wanted the scrutiny of the Parliament to go above and beyond what the review had done and it to be particularly focused on this outage and the whole - you know, for me, I feel that Australians are losing confidence in our most important Triple Zero network. When you need someone the most, and this is to also provide that confidence again, that we're all in this place, who are meant to be representing our communities, taking this issue really seriously. They're getting let down and it seems like failure after failure. You've got to remember the Minister appointed ACMA, the regulator, who couldn't open an email to be an investigator into the whole Triple Zero ecosystem.

I've said it once, I've said it many times, how can the regulator investigate themselves when they are part - and this shows it again - part of the failed process.

Journalist

Didn't Optus in that email also downplay the situation, though? They didn't reveal the scope of the Triple Zero outage?

Melissa McIntosh MP

I'll let you have a look. I've just come out of the Chamber, but it says there is a Triple Zero outage and then there's been multiple emails since. You know, if there's a Triple Zero outage, isn't that enough for somebody to at least forward an email or open an email or make a phone call? Like, how serious does it need to be? Did they have to say sorry, four people have died and then.

Journalist

But didn't Optus not say that? They downplayed it as well.

Melissa McIntosh MP

I’m not letting Optus off the hook here either. It's been Optus’ fault. The CEO has been missing in action until he got, you know, called in by the Minister yesterday and had a closed door meeting. Optus has also - like people have lost confidence in the CEO and in Optus too. It's on them to get that confidence back.

Journalist

If the government, its departments, are all involved in this, is this getting to a point where there needs to be a broader independent commission?

Melissa McIntosh MP

It's exactly what I've been calling for. Why haven't they done that from the start? An independent, thorough investigation into Optus and now into what's gone on, the whole process and the whole Triple Zero network. I think it's essential. We're about to hit bushfire season over summer. You know, I have, there's no guarantee that this isn't going to happen again and it should not take more deaths for the government to wake up and actually prioritise this.

Journalist

On that incorrect email, representatives from the department said that Optus had actually sent to the new email, to the correct email, multiple warnings of previous outages, but then this time they sent it to an incorrect one. I mean, what repercussions would you like to see to Optus for that? I mean that's yet another failing in this, right?

Melissa McIntosh MP

Yeah, it's a failing in getting an email address wrong but as I said, there are other emails in the chain. The Minister's office also received the emails and ACMA was also the regulator receiving the emails. Do they not speak with each other? This is all under the purview of the Minister. So how could everyone fail in this regard? What are they all doing? I really don't know. That's a good question. What were they doing during this outage that they couldn't respond to an email, pick up a phone and say that we have a serious issue here, it's potentially impacting lives. This is our Triple Zero network.

Journalist

You've been trying to meet with the office chief executive. I understand he's offered himself up to speak with you or meet with you today. Will you be taking that up?

Melissa McIntosh MP

Has he? I've been in the chamber. That's good news. But why did it take this? He was here yesterday having coffee and not meeting with me. He met with the Minister and he met with the Greens, but he didn't meet with me, and it's taken a story in the media to say, ‘Okay, I'll meet with the Shadow Minister for Communications.’ Well, I've got work to do. It's obvious this is a bigger issue than any of us thought a couple of weeks ago. So yeah, I'll get around to meeting him but he should have met me before, I think. Any other questions? Thanks, everyone.