Transcript - Sky News First Edition - 30 September 2025

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

30 September 2025

Transcript

Sky News First Edition with Kenny Heatley

Topics: Triple Zero outage; Triple Zero inquiry; Optus; ACMA. 

EO&E …

Kenny Heatley

Joining me live is Shadow communications minister Melissa McIntosh. Good to see you again, Melissa. The parent company Singtel's Chief Executive will meet Communications Minister Anika Wells today. What are you expecting from that meeting?

Melissa McIntosh

Thanks for having me on. Some answers would be really good. Right now, Australians are pretty much left in the dark as to why this has happened and why it has happened again. We had the first outage, which sadly resulted in the loss of four lives, and I called on the government after that outage to have a thorough, independent investigation. I think it's really important. Australians need confidence in our most essential telecommunications network. And each time this happens, it's happened with Telstra as well. There's been an outage. It's happened with the NBN over the weekend, a triple zero outage. Each time it happens, people lose confidence. So I hope the meeting that happens today. The Minister has been missing in action over the last week while she's been overseas at the UN with the Prime Minister. She hasn't been home, she's been missing. So I hope she comes out after this meeting, gives Australians answers, gives us assurance that this won't happen again.

Heatley

The federal regulator is conducting an investigation. Why is the ACMA investigation not enough? In this case.

McIntosh

It's nowhere near good enough. It's such a lazy sort of appointment to get ACMA to do this. ACMA is the regulator. They were alerted by Optus on the Thursday. This was this really serious outage and Optus had to alert them by law. They sat on that alert for a whole day. The Minister didn't find out, she says, until the Friday. So how can ACMA as the regulator, be part of the investigation when they are caught up in the failed process? That's why it's so important that the investigation is urgent and it is independent. And it's not just me as the Opposition calling for this. ACCAN, which is the consumer advocacy network, is also calling for an independent investigation.

Heatley

Ok, but wouldn't ACMA have more authority to probe even deeper than an independent investigation?

McIntosh

No, not necessarily. The Minister has it in her powers to appoint whoever she wants. Get ACMA involved, that's fine, but you can't investigate yourself. ACMA did the investigation in 2023 after the first outage and had 18 recommendations and we don't even know how many have been implemented. The government hasn't been clear on that. So they haven't even enforced those recommendations which may have prevented these outages. So I'm lacking confidence that they are the right appointment, and I think Australians deserve to have an independent investigation. This is Triple Zero. This is not just making a telephone call, this is life and death situations. When people pick up the phone and call Triple zero, they should be able to get through. And right now, they haven't been able to get through last week, they haven't been able to get through this week. And it's not just Optus, it seems like the whole network needs an overhaul and certainly needs a thorough investigation.

Heatley

Would a parliamentary inquiry into ACMA restore public confidence in how telcos are being policed?

McIntosh

I think it is time to have a parliamentary inquiry into, of course, ACMA, into the regulations. This is a very regulated sector, yet things are falling through the crack. So it might be time that we look at those regulations, whether they're fit for purpose, whether they're up to speed with, you know, today's day and age where technology is moving so fast. But we're talking about the basics. This is essential that people can get through on Triple Zero. If things are falling apart, make it your priority. Don't go off overseas, stay home. Make sure that Australians have that confidence and know that you are looking after them. Number one, that is the top priority of any government. I don't know why this government is not seeing it that way.

Heatley

Melissa McIntosh, appreciate your time this morning. We've got to run, but thank you.