Interview with Charles Croucher, Today Show

Transcript, E&OE Subjects: Telstra outage; Landmark week for Australian foreign policy; Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Australia; Middle East conflict. 10 July 2026 Charles Croucher, Host: Joining us now is Foreign Minister Penny Wong, live in Melbourne. Senator, good morning to you. As a South Australian, as a Senator, do we know more this morning?

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister : Good morning, Charles. Good to be with you. First, I would say I understand from Telstra that they have said that all issues in terms of the outages were resolved as of last night.

Secondly, I want to make it very clear it's not acceptable that people can't get through on the triple-0 line. And thirdly, there will be a comprehensive investigation by the communications authority, by ACMA, because we do want to understand, all of us want to understand how this happened, how it was possible and how we can ensure it does not happen again. : Didn't we have one of these investigations when the service went out with Optus just last year?

Foreign Minister: I understand Minister Wells has talked about the improvements that were made at that time and after that. Obviously more needs to be done in relation to what occurred with Telstra, particularly in relation to emergency calls. : On Telstra specifically, they admit they undercooked the initial assessment of how many people are involved. There was a delay in reporting it.

What has to change with the company and what has to change with the regulations so that something like this doesn't happen again? Foreign Minister : Well, first I agree we don't want this to happen again. And we look to the investigation by the authority to make sure that Telstra puts measures in place to ensure it does not.

I think everyone would agree that Telstra's performance through this has not been where the community expect it to be. And we want community expectations when it comes particularly to the emergency network to be met. : Would you expect this would impact the bonuses for the directors and company executives? Foreign Minister : Well I think community expectations need to be met, absolutely. : Okay, we'll move on, because community expectations were high for Narendra Modi's visit in Melbourne last night.

You've been with the Indian Prime Minister. Take us through what it's been like, because this seems more rockstar than world leader. Foreign Minister : Look, this really capped what has been a landmark week in Australian foreign policy.

We had a new treaty with Fiji announced this week. We had our alliance with Papua New Guinea come into force. And now we have the visit by the Indian Prime Minister, Prime Minister Modi, who as you said, got a rockstar reception here in Melbourne.

But as important as all of the celebration at Marvel Stadium was the announcements that the Prime Minister's made, our Declaration in terms of working together on security, working together on critical technologies, working together across the whole breadth of the relationship. India is such an important power in the world and our relationship with them matters to stability in the Indo-Pacific.

But it certainly was a big party last night. A lot of celebration, a great vibe, a lot of Indian-Australians there cheering the Prime Ministers on. : The PM hoping some of that popularity rubs off. India also shares a land border with China.

In a week when China is firing ballistic missiles into our backyard, how important will Narendra Modi and India be into curtailing some of that action around the region? Foreign Minister : Well, we've talked for a long time about strategic balance in our region in the Indo-Pacific. That's been really important to preserving Australian sovereignty.

And India is critical to that. And what you've seen since we came to government is patient, careful work across all relationships. India is one of the foremost relationships for us.

We've seen visits by our Prime Minister, Prime Minister Albanese, to India. We've seen Prime Minister Modi here. And as importantly, we're seeing how we are working more closely together across the relationship.

We also work together through the Quad, which is, as you know, the first trip overseas that the Prime Minister made when he was elected in 2022, was to a Quad meeting. We've had Quad meetings this year at Foreign Minister level in India that I've attended. So, you know, the Quad is a very important part of the strategic balance that I've talked about. : And one of those Quad leaders is Donald Trump.

He said overnight that he thinks the ceasefire is done in the Middle East. So, where to next for this region and for everyone watching on this morning, that's been feeling it in their hip pocket? Foreign Minister : Well, you've got it in one.

People have been feeling in the hip pocket, which is why we have been calling for some time – de-escalation, ceasefire. We want a return to stability. I think everybody wants a return to stability.

And it's very disappointing to see at the moment, this ceasefire is really fraying around the edges. I think the international community, Australia included, are saying to Iran, we do want stability returned not just to the region, but to the global economy. : Plenty on your plate, Minister. We appreciate your time this morning.

Foreign Minister : Great to speak with you Charles.