The Senate plans to grill Optus executives over the recent fatal triple-0 outages. Photo: File.
Optus bosses will be called to front up to a Senate inquiry over the telco’s triple-0 outages linked to the deaths of at least three Australians.
They are being asked to appear voluntarily when parliament returns on Monday (3 November), but the Senate can compel them should they refuse the invitation.
The Coalition joined the Greens in the Senate to give the numbers to establish the inquiry.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, who chairs the Senate committee that will run the process, said the inquiry would seek to “hold Optus to account” and suggest a “pathway forward for further reform”.
The move follows the successful passing in the House of Representatives of the Federal Government’s legislation to establish a custodian for the triple-0 system.
Labor agreed to a Greens amendment to triple the maximum penalties for breaches of triple-0 obligations from $10 million to $30 million. The Coalition wants the maximum penalty increased to $40 million.
Communication Minister Anika Wells said the Triple Zero Custodian would be given powers to actively and effectively monitor telecommunication companies’ delivery of the service.
“Australians must have confidence that triple zero will be there when they need it most,” she said.
But Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh said the reforms didn’t go far enough.
Opposition amendments seeking greater accountability were voted down.
The Coalition wants a triple-0 custodian with more teeth and a public register of the telcos’ service outages.
“Six weeks on from the Optus triple-0 disaster, where lives were lost, Australians have learned the Albanese Government has said no to a transparent public triple zero outage register,” Ms McIntosh said.
“The register the Albanese Labor Government is putting forward is not public nor run by the government’s Triple Zero Custodian, rather it will be self-operated by the telcos.
“This mechanism is not transparent. The Coalition’s public triple-0 outage register would ensure the telcos must report outage data in real time in a central location for all Australians to view which will provide additional accountability measures on the telcos.”
The Coalition also pushed for reduced reporting times from six months to every three months and for the reports to be published publicly.
On the issue of a parliamentary inquiry, the Federal Opposition wants all related issues canvassed.
“No stone must be left unturned,” Ms McIntosh said.
“We are coming into disaster season, and this inquiry, which starts on 3 November, must review every nook and cranny of the ecosystem to ensure the safety of all Australians and their ability to call triple-0 in their greatest moment of need…
“We would like everything investigated.
“I question how a telco can be getting contracts at the same time as potentially getting huge amounts of fines.”
Optus executives will be the first called to appear, but the parliamentary inquiry will explore the actions of government agencies and the minister.
Liberal backbencher Sarah Henderson, who has also been leading the call for a public inquiry, even suggested Ms Wells should appear before the inquiry to “uncover the truth” of the failure.
“The role of the minister in safeguarding the integrity, resilience and public confidence in the triple-0 system is central to the inquiry,” Senator Henderson said.
On 18 September, emergency calls were blocked through Optus in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of NSW.
The deaths of two people in South Australia and one in WA have been linked to those outages. A fourth death, of an infant in SA, is considered likely to have been unrelated.
A separate outage on 28 September blocked more calls to triple zero through an Optus tower in Dapto, in the NSW Illawarra region.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
