Opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson has defended her decision to make test calls to triple-0 during Telstra's nationwide outage, which impacted more than 600 emergency calls. The outage, which began at around 4:30 am on Wednesday, disrupted mobile data, EFTPOS terminals, business, and transport services across Australia.
Henderson's justification and criticism
Henderson, a Victorian senator, said she made the calls in her role as shadow minister to understand if critical services were working appropriately. "I accept the criticism, but what I will say is that I am in a unique position holding this government to account," she told radio station 2GB. However, her actions drew condemnation from Labor, with Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres calling them reckless. "I was absolutely shocked by that revelation. I just say to Australians, don't do what she did," he told ABC Radio. "It's utterly irresponsible. I just don't know why anybody would do that, but I'd certainly say nobody should follow her example."
Legal implications and opposition support
Improper calls to triple-0 are a Commonwealth offence, carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison. Despite this, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor defended Henderson, stating that her actions were not illegal and were made necessary by the government's failure. "These actions were not illegal, and they were made necessary by complete and utter failure from this minister, and that should be the focus of the press, and it should be the focus of the nation," he said, dismissing suggestions that the calls were vexatious or a hoax.
Telstra's response and impact
Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland said the company had completed 639 welfare checks over triple-0 call failures since Wednesday morning. Of those, 230 callers responded to an SMS advising they did not require assistance, while 402 cases required follow-up phone calls. Seven callers advised they needed help, and their details were passed to the relevant emergency services. "Any one missed call is unacceptable," Ackland said.
Potential fines and future investigations
Penalties for telcos that fail to meet their triple-0 obligations have been increased to $30 million. When asked whether individuals within Telstra should be punished, Communications Minister Anika Wells said her focus was on restoring services. "And then investigation can take foot, and we can learn out of that, and penalties can be administered, justice can be served," she said. Experts have noted that the outage exposed how reliant critical infrastructure is on a handful of telecommunications providers.
