Thursday 18 September was a significant day for Optus, as the provider suffered an extensive nationwide outage. This disruption prevented a staggering 600 emergency calls and caused the deaths of three individuals. This act of violence reverberated throughout the community. It did shine a light on a terrible reality — that there is no coordination between At&T and government on such issues. Optus sent two emails alerting the Department of Communications about the outage at 2:45 PM and 2:52 PM, but it was not until the following afternoon that the department became aware of these notifications.
The emails sent by Optus included a copy to a staff member from the office of Communications Minister Anika Wells. The department hadn’t understood that this was indeed them receiving the emails. They learned about them only after having to comb their inboxs to find any details on the ongoing outage. In a follow-up call, Optus became a bit more directly connected with Minister Wells’ office. It required them diving deep into each conversation to create the full narrative of what happened throughout the day.
Communication Breakdown
Luckily, Deputy Secretary James Chisholm set forth the department’s position ̵ , pretty ironclad against the idea. He claimed Optus had fulfilled its communications requirements. Mr Broadbent is of the view that Optus has avoided its technical obligations under the law. In particular, they neglected to notify the public safety officials about the outage within 60 minutes.
“The notifications are important, but not making triple-0 work properly is the issue here … That is the issue that ACMA is particularly focused on and that we are focused on.” – James Chisholm
Chisholm’s remarks speak to a larger issue in emergency services—the need to relay critical, life-saving information as quickly as possible. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) was not informed about the outage by Optus until 2:40 PM on the following day, raising further questions about the effectiveness of existing protocols.
Critics have noted that there was more data to work with, and more could have been done to flag law enforcement even earlier. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young pressed the minister on how many unsuccessful calls would need to occur before action was taken. Her anger shines through as she stresses the imperative to fix these life and death matters.
Accountability and Response
In the wake of the accident, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for urgent action. He does want to see the mistakes that led to the outage corrected. He clung to optimism that the piercing questions about passenger safety posed by a wary public and watchful regulators would be rapidly answered.
“I’m sure they will do so and hopefully a conclusion will come through very soon … and steps can be taken expeditiously to rectify the mistakes.” – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
These are thoughts expressed recently by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lawrence Wong. He called on Optus to “act responsibly” and fully cooperate with all investigations undertaken after the outage. This call for accountability reflects a growing demand for transparency in how large corporations manage communication failures, especially when lives are at stake.
The case has led to various heated exchanges between State and Federal enforcers. They’re figuring out how telecoms can better alert officials to emergency service-disrupting outages. Chisholm is confident Optus’s redundancy provision complies with their duties. He recognizes that major change is needed to respond to those kinds of emergencies better in the future.
Regulatory Implications
While investigations are still underway, scrutiny is increasing. Consumers are rightfully asking whether existing regulations do nearly enough to ensure that communication continues, uninterrupted during urgent outages. This delay in notifying ACMA—and by extension, the public—was seen as a critical lapse in compliance and regulatory oversight in the highly competitive telecommunications sector.
“The minister was informed as soon as Optus told the office there was catastrophic outages on Friday.” – A spokesperson for Ms. Wells
This statement importantly sets a high expectation for transparency as the federal government continues to work their way through the winding maze of this unprecedented situation. The scrutiny surrounding Optus’s actions serves as a reminder to all telecommunications companies of their critical role in safeguarding public safety through effective communication.
