Melissa McIntosh
Lindsay · Liberal Party · Australia
“The working homeless are one of our country's most worrying trends. When a working mother escapes violence only to trade fear inside her home for fear inside a parked car with her children, we should all be asking how Australia has come to this.”
“They told me they have women living in cars while waiting for transitional accommodation, women that are working jobs, women trying to keep their children safe and women doing everything right yet unable to secure a rental property because the market is simply too tight.”
“In my own electorate of Lindsay, the number of people sleeping rough in the Penrith local government area has increased by over 30 per cent in just one year. For every person counted sleeping rough, there are many more living in cars, couch surfing or remaining in unsafe situations because they simply have nowhere else to go.”
“More than four million Australians live in poverty, rents have soared, childcare costs continue to rise, and homeownership is slipping further out of reach. Mortgage arrears have risen by 6.8 per cent over the past year, while credit card arrears among Gen Z have surged by almost 29 per cent.”
“OzHarvest's latest frontline report reveals more than 350,000 people are seeking food relief every month, while more than 74,000 are being turned away because services cannot keep up with demand.”
“It cuts me to the core to hear the Penrith Women's Health Centre say that around 10 per cent of their clients are now working homeless. These are women fleeing violence, often with little more than the clothes on their back. Last year alone, the centre supported 750 women escaping violence in their homes.”
The complete record
Every one of 448 lines we hold for Melissa McIntosh, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 9.
“The inquiry needs to look at every single telco and what they do to ensure the safety of Australians. It is unconscionable that a human error within a telco could cause a complete failure where hundreds of people could not call our most essential triple 0 service. How can a process error cause such disaster? What is happening within these companies? Where is the accountability? How can ACMA, the regulator, be the investigator in this matter when they are caught up in the failed process? ACMA knew about the outage on the Thursday. By law, Optus had to alert them. Yet, the minister didn't know about the outage until the Friday. Multiple emails went to ACMA and to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, yet the minister didn't know. How can ACMA investigate itself?”
“Optus have advised my office that this outage was due to a site upgrade in the area. But what concerns me is the apparent lack of communication to the community that services may be impacted. People didn't know. In the current environment, after so many catastrophic failures, failures that have cost Australia, communication outages, planned or unplanned, should be at the forefront of every telco's mind. When it comes to the Senate inquiry, it needs to be about the full ecosystem. The inquiry needs to ask the question: how can a telco receive millions of dollars in government contracts at the same time as potentially having to pay millions of dollars in fines for letting down Australians? That just doesn't stack up. Every single Australian will be asking how they can get away with that.”
“There will be some sporting event or international travel commitment that will prevent her from attending. They love scrutiny on that side of the House, which leads me to the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025. You can duck and you can weave and you can stack the numbers in this place all you like. You can't dodge the Senate inquiry on this matter. I've no doubt that the government will try. Just the other day, there were media reports on yet another triple 0 outage in Gippsland, Victoria. According to the ABC, a 70-year-old retired nurse discovered the triple 0 network outage after she attempted to call an ambulance when she had a fall. Her call, just like more than 600 calls back in September, failed to connect.”
“Rather than have common sense prevail and put the safety and wellbeing of all Australians first, this arrogant and transparency-phobic Albanese government have tried to dodge a bullet, but they've failed. The Senate inquiry established will use all its powers to interrogate not just Optus but also the Department of Communications, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and any other relevant and involved stakeholder. Relevant stakeholders, I will point out, include the Minister for Communications. I expect that a request for the minister to attend a committee hearing will arrive very soon. I don't have to use any psychic abilities to foreshadow what will happen; I can guess that the minister won't be available. I think that's a pretty strong prediction.”
“I, along with so many Australians, am disgusted at the actions of the Albanese government on this matter of protecting Australians. Yesterday the Senate supported the establishment of a Senate inquiry into the absolutely catastrophic Optus outage that occurred in September. I moved a motion in this place three weeks ago that would have established a House inquiry that could have already been underway. Parliament has now wasted three weeks in getting on with the job. Those on the other side of the chamber chose to block that inquiry, despite its being supported by the coalition and the full crossbench. This is despite the Standing Committee on Communications, the Arts and Sport having absolutely nothing to do, as was revealed in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday.”
“Every update that they provided to the minister, to her office, to the Department of Communications and to ACMA, the regulator, was wrong. How on Earth can Australians have their confidence in the triple 0 network restored when the Albanese Labor government is choosing to outsource this work right back to the very telcos that have failed to uphold it? Even worse, the reporting mechanisms created by the triple 0 custodian bill are absolutely useless. The bill requires a report to be produced every six months by the new custodian and ACMA, but the reports won't be publicly available. People won't know what is in those reports. Both the coalition and Senator Payman called for this amendment in the other place, but the Albanese government and the Greens blocked both amendments.”
“Shame on the government for failing every Australian in this country and not holding telcos to account for their failures. The Albanese Labor government teamed up with the Greens and blocked each and every coalition amendment on the bill that would have forced those telcos to pay for their mistakes. They blocked the coalition's amendment for a public triple 0 outage register. They have, however, instructed ACMA to change the industry standard to require the telcos to publish this data, not publicly but on their own website—so, multiple telcos publishing their own outages. Do you think that's really going to happen? These are the very telcos, like Optus, who failed to detect an outage for almost 13 hours and then failed abysmally at every turn to provide notifications of the outage to everyone.”
“Mr Speaker, people died when they couldn't call triple 0 during that Optus outage, and the Albanese Labor government has had multiple chances to come in here. We have moved amendments. We have suspended standing orders. We have reached out to the minister and offered our assistance in coming to a solution so that this never happens again. Yet the government and the Greens have teamed up to block increased penalties for telcos who do the wrong thing. We moved amendments three times. Three times the government had opportunities to increase those penalties from $10 million. We said it should be $40 million. They did a dirty deal with the Greens and now we're at $30 million. But we gave them that chance. This could have been done weeks and weeks ago.”
“Leave not granted. I move: That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Lindsay from moving the following motion immediately: That the House: (1) notes: (a) the Senate has passed a motion to establish an inquiry, to be conducted by the Environment and Communications References Committee, on the triple zero outages of 18 September 2025, with the committee to report by 11 February 2026; (b) the Senate has requested that its resolution on this matter be communicated to the House; (c) on 8 October 2025, the Government blocked a motion moved by the Member for Lindsay to establish a select committee to be known as a House Select Committee on the Triple Zero Ecosystem to inquire into and report on the health of the triple zero ecosystem; (d) the Opposition expedited the passage of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025 through the House upon a motion first moved by the Opposition; and (e) the recommendations of the Australian Government review into the Optus outage of 8 November 2023 (the Bean Review) have still not been fully implemented by the Government; and (2) requires: (a) the Minister for Communications, as a House Minister, to fully cooperate with the inquiry and appear in person to outline in full her role in the serious outages that have occurred in the triple zero ecosystem; and (b) that the Minister provide transparency around the failure of the Government to ensure that the legal obligations of telecommunications providers to enable emergency services calls at all times are met.”
“I seek leave to move the following motion: That the House: (1) notes: (a) the Senate has passed a motion to establish an inquiry, to be conducted by the Environment and Communications References Committee, on the triple zero outages of 18 September 2025, with the committee to report by 11 February 2026; (b) the Senate has requested that its resolution on this matter be communicated to the House; (c) on 8 October 2025, the Government blocked a motion moved by the Member for Lindsay to establish a select committee to be known as a House Select Committee on the Triple Zero Ecosystem to inquire into and report on the health of the triple zero ecosystem; (d) the Opposition expedited the passage of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025 through the House upon a motion first moved by the Opposition; and (e) the recommendations of the Australian Government review into the Optus outage of 8 November 2023 (the Bean Review) have still not been fully implemented by the Government; and (2) requires: (a) the Minister for Communications, as a House Minister, to fully cooperate with the inquiry and appear in person to outline in full her role in the serious outages that have occurred in the triple zero ecosystem; and (b) that the Minister provide transparency around the failure of the Government to ensure that the legal obligations of telecommunications providers to enable emergency services calls at all times are met.”
“The latest ABS crime statistics for 2024 show sexual violence is getting worse. Between 2022 and 2024, sexual assaults rose by 17 per cent and, notably, family violence homicides and related offences rose by nearly 65 per cent. In 2024, 99 women died from family and domestic related homicide. We stand ready to support the Prime Minister to better address the drivers of violence and to get the funding it promised out the door more quickly. Prime Minister, why are there still unacceptable rates of violence against women? You have our commitment to work constructively with your government on any efforts to address this national shame.”
“One-quarter of companies in the ASX 300 actually went backwards this year in women's representation. We know from research undertaken by McCrindle that gen Z might be our most entrepreneurial generation, yet 86 per cent of gen Z want to work in something they start themselves. But in this budget we don't see Labor backing business, backing entrepreneurs or backing women in business. When will the minister see women also as business owners and entrepreneurs? Will the minister commit to working with business women and business owners to reduce the barriers to success for them? Finally, if a measure of success of a society is to look at the most vulnerable, we must keep focusing collectively on violence against women and the shadow it casts over all of our efforts.”
“My electorate of Lindsay is home to outstanding women in business—women like Gina Field, whose business was named company of the year at the Women Changing the World global awards, and Jess Jenkins, who's re-energising the night-time economy by heading up the Valley Entertainment Precinct. However, soaring costs, red tape and the state government's cut to the Business Connect program are making it harder for local female-led businesses to thrive. There are 33,500 fewer employing small businesses than when Labor came to office. Within large businesses, we see women's leadership is also flatlining. It is sitting stubbornly low. The Chief Executive Women Senior Executive Census 2025 shows that there remain just 27 women CEOs in the ASX 300 and that 80 per cent of CEO pipeline roles are held by men.”
“Against this backdrop, Labor always looks to what it knows. It knows how to add additional bureaucracy, reward union coffers and spend more of your money, leaving a debt for future generations. What we don't see in this year's Women's Budget Statement is an investment in women in business, including women in entrepreneurship and women in micro and small business. About 35 per cent of small businesses are owned or led by women. These women deserve attention too. Women-led businesses care about small business support, about fair taxes, about rising energy and supply costs and about how running a business should be unhindered by government regulation. Frankly, small businesses are going backwards under the Albanese Labor government. There's a hollowing out of small businesses in our towns, suburbs and cities.”
“In the fourth year of this government, we see a prime minister who set high expectations for Australian women, expanding the Office for Women. All the while he was introducing new processes and new bureaucracy. This is what it's been about for the government. The Prime Minister is committed to glossy publications around the impact of the budget more broadly, but the government's failure to rein in overall spending and its failure to protect future generations from the intergenerational debt burden is the actual reality. There remain stubborn gaps for Australian women: the gender pay gap, the unpaid care gap, the housing gap and the superannuation gap, as well as an emerging HECS debt gap, whereby more women are graduating from university but they are taking longer to pay back their student loans than their male counterparts.”
“Whether it is supporting women with chronic health conditions, helping women manage endo or menopause or assisting families on their fertility journey, we all need to be focused on getting the policy settings right.”
“These new initiatives must be delivered without delay. Too many women are missing out. It has never been harder or more expensive for women to access critical primary care. The Albanese government must do more to ensure women can access the health advice and checkups they need without record high costs acting as a barrier. I also urge the Albanese government to urgently deliver on its broken promise to protect Australians from genetic discrimination like what they are experiencing in life insurance. The government committed to addressing this in the last term of parliament. This broken promise has denied hope to Australians at risk of genetic conditions and discourages many from seeking genetic testing. This genetic testing could lead to life-saving information and treatment.”
“Minister, will you finally acknowledge that fewer Australians can rely on only their Medicare card to see a doctor since your government came into power? I want to use my remaining time to speak about women's health. The coalition and government made a significant bipartisan commitment at the last election to invest $573.3 million in important women's health initiatives. This included enhancing menopause care for women through a new Medicare rebate, expanding health professional training and increasing funding for endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. This package built on the important work started under the coalition government, including the launch of the National Women's Health Strategy. For women experiencing menopause and living with conditions like endo, access to affordable GPs and specialist care is critical.”
“Australians are being charged the highest out-of-pocket costs on record. In fact, Australians paid a combined $2 billion in out-of-pocket costs to see a GP in the last year alone. This is the Prime Minister's $2 billion lie. This means that, under this government, Australians are now paying 75 per cent more from their own pocket to see their GP. This is having a real impact on families at a time when they can least afford it. More than 1½ million Australians avoided seeing their GP last year owing to cost. Instead of being honest with Australians about this crisis, the Prime Minister has been waving his Medicare card around, doing his stunt to try to distract from his government's failure. This Prime Minister is completely out of touch with the rising costs Australians are facing every single day under this government.”
“They promised to put the care back into aged care, and to release an additional 83,000 new home-care packages, but they have withheld new home-care packages from older Australians who need them, causing the waitlist to skyrocket by more than 400 per cent in just two years. The Prime Minister promised to have a new hospital funding agreement in place by July this year and to fund 42.5 per cent of hospital costs by 2030, but he has failed to negotiate with the states and territories, leaving our hospital systems to languish. Worse, he now appears to be planning to cut billions from our hospitals at a time when they are faced with unprecedented pressure. Despite all of the Prime Minister's promises and campaign slogans, more Australians are now having to use their credit cards to see a doctor under this government.”
“Australians have really had enough of this Albanese Labor government's misleading rhetoric on health and aged care. The government went to the last election with a dishonest campaign on health and Medicare. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese waved around his Medicare card in front of the Australian public and promised Australians that all you need is your Medicare card, not a credit card and that it would be free to see a GP. He made this promise at least 71 times. But the Albanese Labor government have already broken these promises. Labor promised to strengthen Medicare, but it has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor. The bulk-billing rate has plummeted by 11 per cent since they came into government—from 88 per cent under the coalition to 77 per cent under this Albanese Labor government.”
“Why was the minister in New York, doing a promo tour of another policy, when the PM was there representing our country? Minister, do you not think that you should have stayed to deal with the pressing matter of the public's complete lack of confidence in the Australian telecommunications industry's ability to provide the triple 0 services? And, Minister, will you promise the Australian people that you will never leave your post again as a minister in a time of national crisis?”
“We are now a full year and a half on from the report's handing down, but the minister evaded questions on which of the 18 recommendations have been implemented. One recommendation was to have a triple 0 custodian with powers to ensure the entirety of the system is operational, effective and responsive. It's a pity that today she voted down my amendments in the House to safeguard our triple 0 system. The minister can blame everything on her being a new minister in this portfolio, but the fact remains that she, and she alone, was the custodian, and is still the custodian, of the industry. Her No. 1 job as communications minister is to ensure our most vital lifeline in anyone's time of need, right across the country, is in service.”
“Government agencies didn't speak with each other, and they didn't pass on any information. And it gets worse. The minister and the chair of ACMA then finally held a press conference days later. This plethora of failures, with a regulator being one party in this careless process, is why I find it completely inappropriate that the communications minister has appointed ACMA to review this Optus triple 0 outage and the triple 0 network. Essentially, the minister is allowing a government body to investigate itself. That's a joke. How can the minister have confidence in ACMA, given their failures and their involvement in the failed process? The Bean review was ordered to look into the Optus 2023 outage to make sure it would never happen again. There were 18 recommendations, all of which were agreed to by the Albanese Labor government.”
“Our coalition amendments would have doubled the maximum financial penalties for triple 0 outages from $10 million to $20 million; established a public triple-0-outage register to keep telcos accountable and to keep the public informed—transparency is so important; put the triple 0 system on the critical infrastructure list as the essential service which every Australian knows it is; and reduced the reporting times from six months to every three months and had those reports published so the public can see what is going on. Not only did Optus fail but so did the minister, her department and the regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The minister says she didn't hear of the Optus outage until 19 September, but her office has an email from Optus on 18 September, as has ACMA and the department of communications.”
“Minister, what are you doing to get government responses published, and what work are you taking to ensure the NBN and all of your projects that you promised the Australian people are on track? I want to raise the most critical issue on Australian families' minds, the state of the triple 0 network. It is our nation's most essential telecommunication service. Four people lost their lives during the triple 0 crisis on 18 September. As the shadow minister for communications, I will ensure that this Labor government takes this tragic event seriously. I note, in particular, that today the government voted down a select House committee inquiry into the triple-0-network ecosystem. That is shameful. We also had the Albanese Labor government vote down important amendments to the triple-0-network legislation today.”
“I rise to talk about the mismanagement and broken promises littered across the communications portfolio thanks to this Albanese Labor government. The Australian public are waiting on multiple responses to reports from the government in the communications portfolio. The Labor government has put the Murphy report into the harms of gambling on a shelf, gathering dust for more than two years now. We haven't heard a peep when it comes to the review of the Online Safety Act. It has been almost a year since the News Bargaining Incentive was announced. There's still no consultation paper. It seems the government is too scared of the US to want to make a move. We also have a failing NBN, with customers dropping off and prices rising in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”
“'It's not up to me to do that. That's not my job. It might make them feel uncomfortable. It is an extraordinary time. I'm a new minister. I don't know how to pick up the phone and call people in their greatest time of need.' So many things went wrong over the last three weeks—firstly, Optus and the outage, where people couldn't make those very important calls. But it does not stop there. We have exposed major faults in our most essential telecommunications service. Every single Australian should be able to pick up a phone and call triple 0 in their greatest time of need. There is nothing more important for a government to do than to protect its citizens, and what this government and this minister are doing now is letting every single citizen down.”
“It is really concerning that the minister walks away from Australians in their greatest time of need and that she places the blame purely on a company when the government, as a regulator, has a big job to do. She appoints ACMA, the regulator, as the investigator when they are part of the failed process. How can the regulator investigate themselves? What is going to be the outcome there? Where's the transparency? The minister is still saying, even though we have evidence from Senate estimates that her office was aware of an outage on the Thursday, that she knew nothing and that there were welfare checks made. How can you not follow up when you're being told that welfare checks are being made or think that that's not important? When she was asked again today, 'Have you called the families of the victims?' what did she say?”
“The shadow minister for regional communications has been telling those stories about the regions and how much they're impacted. Those people should have a chance to tell their stories. We should be listening to them from the top of Australia to the bottom and from east to west. But no. The government does not want parliamentarians to hear about the struggles of Australians when they're trying to call triple 0. They don't want to hear from emergency services about what they're going through on the ground, and they said no to this too. Commonsense options from us are presented to the government, and the minister walks out the door. Maybe she's flying overseas again on another junket. When a crisis unfolds, it seems like her standard thing to do.”
“They would expect us to be putting extra things in place to ensure we are doing anything we can do, pulling every lever we can pull, to make sure this never happens again. It's inexcusable that the government voted down these commonsense amendments. The minister walked away from our amendments. She's walked out of this chamber now. She's walking away from Australians in their time of greatest need. She also said no to a committee. It's fair enough that we have asked for a committee for the government, the opposition and crossbenchers to come together and examine this and, most importantly, invite Australians impacted by triple 0 outages to tell their stories. Isn't that what all of us are meant to do—represent our communities from right across Australia?”
“Finally—and this was a doozy in question time—it's fair enough that Optus has its penalties increased; they've doubled, in fact. That's fair enough, when people have died. We want $20 million as a fine for each breach. That's fair enough, I think Australians would be calling for that too. But the minister came in here and said: 'What are they doing? We're passing a bill that says $10 million. It was from the beginning of September. You should be coming on board with this because we are already doing it.' This was before the catastrophic outage when four people died. These telcos should be held accountable. Obviously $10 million is not enough to stop this kind of thing happening. I think every Australian would be very happy with $20 million and they would expect it.”
“I think Australians are always shocked when there's an outage, but it happens more often than not. So a register makes sense. What did the government do? They said no. We asked for the triple 0 system to be put on the critical infrastructure list. We have water, energy and sewage. But when someone's wanting to call triple 0 in their time of greatest need it's not critical? The minister got up today and said: 'That is not important. Why are we even considering that it should be critical infrastructure?' So they said no to that too, and it seems okay that the reporting in their legislation is every six months. Well, something really bad has happened. People have died. We want it every three months and we want the outcomes to be made public.”
“Now it is urgent and we had to review it overnight. Yet the minister came in here and said that she couldn't review recommendations—there were about four of them—in 24 hours and that wasn't fair on us, so we should just pass on the bureaucracy. That is what it is. It is bureaucracy within a department overseeing another department. It is pretty much insane. We will do it in the interests of the Australian people, but we wanted to do it better, and we offered the government that today. We offered the government some strengthening of their legislation. All of us on this side came together. People contributed to this on our side because we care about Australians and we want to get this done. We asked for a triple 0 register so the public can have transparency when outages occur. That's pretty fair enough.”
“No-one can pick up the phone when there is a major outage that is impacting so many Australians. But this is not news. We could see the warning signs. This happened in 2023, when there were no deaths. There was a review, and there were 18 recommendations. We only found out yesterday that a custodian has been in place inside the department of communications since March this year. What was that custodian doing during the outage? What have they been doing during this time? Why didn't they prevent this from happening? Now we've been dragged in here to pass legislation quickly so they can do something in the future but couldn't do it this time. It just doesn't make sense. We had about 24 hours to review really important legislation to save lives, even though the government has been sitting on this for a year and a half.”
“The minister is lacking empathy—even the press gallery knows; it's no hidden secret—and she's lacking knowledge about the time that she received this notification. This goes back to 18 September, where there was an outage that impacted 600. Then four people died, and the Optus CEO got up and promised—and the Optus CEO should not get off free here—Australians that he would do everything in his power to hold his organisation to account and find out what went on. Then the minister got up and promised Australians that she would do the same, and then she appointed ACMA, the regulator. But ACMA is actually part of the problem because the emails also reveal that ACMA received notification of the outage on the Thursday but didn't alert the minister's office and the minister. So it's like no-one is talking. No-one can read an email.”
“She also disclosed that she did hold a press conference on the Saturday and then left the country even though there was a crisis unfolding. And where did she go? She went to New York. Sounds great, doesn't it—the Big Apple. She said she delayed her flight, though. Thanks, Minister, for delaying your flight. You certainly delayed the action that was required to address this serious issue. She also seems a bit confused about whether she should apologise or not and says that she shouldn't meet with the families, because that would be disrespectful. In what world is it disrespectful for a government minister representing the Crown not to meet with families who have been devastated by such an outage, such a horrible circumstance, that no-one would want to happen in this country in 2025?”
“It is a tragic circumstance. We have to remember why we are even discussing this. Sadly, four people passed away during an Optus outage, and we are still seeking answers. If there were a gold star for confused tactics today, it would have gone to the Minister for Communications. She is still saying she didn't know about the outage until the Friday, although one of her answers may have suggested she did in fact know on Thursday, but we have an email that was revealed in Senate estimates that actually said her office did find out on the Thursday. Yet she still comes here and declares that we've got it wrong—her office doesn't have it wrong, the department doesn't have it wrong, ACMA, who is involved, doesn't have it wrong, and certainly she doesn't have it wrong.”
“My question is to the Minister for Communications. I refer to the minister's previous answer, where she refused to address whether welfare checks have been conducted. It is an open secret in the press gallery that Labor MPs are complaining to journalists that the minister continually fails to show any compassion for victims. Today, secret emails have revealed the minister—”
“My question is to the Minister for Communications. Noting the minister's determination to hold Optus to account, why did the minister express confusion about the opposition's amendment to double the maximum penalty for getting things so badly wrong on behalf of Australians dialling triple 0? Will the minister review her decision and act to double this penalty as the opposition has suggested?”
“My question is to the Minister for Communications. Minister, when you were advised of a triple 0 outage that your department had no idea about, why didn't your office raise it with your department immediately? Was it because you were planning your well-publicised trip to a pub in New York?”
“Minister, given what has been going on in this country over the last few weeks, where people have died, six months is not good enough. This reporting must be more frequent and more rapid, and, most importantly, the public must have access to it. It has to be transparent. So we are asking for it to be every three months. Minister, we ask on behalf of Australians for you to take this seriously and take no chances with the health, safety and welfare of Australians. (Time expired)”
“Following the second Optus outage, which impacted Dapto in New South Wales, Optus reported some of the calls were made by people checking whether the triple 0 network was working. They are lacking confidence in our most essential telecommunication service. Yesterday in question time, the minister was asked how many triple 0 outages there have been, and she couldn't answer this question. That's not good enough. We need to know. Australians have a right to know. If the minister wants to restore faith in the network, she needs to walk the walk and be transparent about what's going on. Finally, schedule 1 of the bill states that ACMA, the regulator, will provide a report every six months, and they will take three months to prepare that report.”
“Among the members of the other place right now, Senate estimates is happening, and they are legitimately talking about emails sent to the wrong email box and no-one opening emails after the outage. This is not a joke; this is actually what has happened. Own it. Fix it. Pick up the phone and make a call if you can't get through on an email. I have heard nothing but excuses from Optus, the department, ACMA—the regulator—and the minister. Australians are sick of excuses. They are sick of cover-ups. Own it. I'm also seeking an amendment to the bill to ensure that for all outages there is transparency regarding the number of calls affected and the geographical areas impacted. Without this vital information, we cannot expect to know where the gaps are in the system so that they can be fixed. Australians are hyperaware right now.”
“The second point in my amendment will increase the current penalty framework for a contravention of the act from $10 million to $20 million. Let's be clear: if a person is unable to call triple 0, that cannot be tolerated. We must have strong enough penalties to make people pay attention. If we end up back here, it's not just going to be $20 million. These penalties won't just double—$30 million a breach, $50 million a breach or $100 million. It doesn't matter—whatever it takes for people to take this seriously and for things to change, because it is serious business. How many more times do we need to address these abhorrent failures before it's fixed and before we have transparency and honesty when we have an outage?”
“Systems of national significance are Australia's most vital and critical infrastructure assets. They underpin our social and economic stability, defence and national security. At the moment, there are around 170 assets, across energy, communications, transport and financial services. People expect their lights to turn on, despite soaring energy prices. They expect to have running water and sewerage. They also expect to be able to pick up the phone and call triple 0 in their greatest time of need. We must ensure that the triple 0 network is protected for all Australians, wherever and whenever they need it. It doesn't matter if you are in the city or in the regions, and my colleague the member for Mallee has been pushing this point so well.”
“I am asking for some detailed amendments to this bill to ensure that our triple 0 network is protected. I shared these amendments with the Minister for Communications's office last night and this morning in an act of good faith and in the hope that the government is serious about fixing the triple 0 system. I don't want to believe that we are here today debating this urgent bill as part of a political show so the government can look like it's doing something. I want them to actually do something. You cannot wallpaper over this catastrophic event. People have died. Australians' confidence in the triple 0 service has been rocked. The first point in my amendment seeks to list our triple 0 network as critical infrastructure. This will ensure that the triple 0 service is enshrined as an infrastructure asset of national significance.”
“(2) The Custodian must include an ECS outage event in the register as soon as reasonably practicable after the Custodian reasonably believes that the ECS outage event has occurred, is occurring or will occur. (3) The Custodian must make the information contained in the register available for public inspection on the internet. (4) The regulations may make provision for and in relation to the keeping of the register. (4) Schedule 1, item 7, page 16 (lines 11 and 12), omit "within 3 months after the end of each 6 month period", substitute "within 1 month after the end of each 3 month period". (5) Schedule 1, item 7, page 16 (line 24), omit subsection 151Q(2), substitute: (2) The ACMA must: (a) provide a copy of the report to the Custodian; and (b) publish the report.”
“by leave—I move amendments (1) to (5) on sheet 1 as circulated in my name together: (1) Schedule 1, page 3 (before line 3), before the heading specifying Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 , insert: Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 1A Section 5 (after paragraph (a) of the definition of critical telecommunications asset ) Insert: (aa) a telecommunications network that is used to supply an emergency call service; or (2) Schedule 1, page 3 (before line 3), before the heading specifying Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 , insert: Telecommunications Act 1997 1B After paragraph 570(3)(ac) Insert: (ad) in the case of a contravention of subsection 151D(1) or (2) of the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 $20 million for each contravention; or (3) Schedule 1, item 7, page 13 (after line 19), after section 151K, insert: 151KA Register of ECS outage events (1) The Custodian must establish and keep a register of ECS outage events.”
“In this article, Mr Swan cites two emails sent by Optus to the minister's staff at 2.45 pm and 2.52 pm on Thursday 18 September—a whole day prior to what the minister stood here yesterday in question time and told the Australian public was when she knew about it.”