Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025
Senator GREEN (Queensland—Assistant Minister for Tourism, Assistant Minister for Pacific Island Affairs and Assistant Minister for Northern Australia) (13:17): The Hansard won't show that I was nodding when you were speaking, not as an indication that I'm fully across those issues you have raised, but more to understand. The issues around the 3G network, of course, have been discussed at length in this chamber, and there has been a lot of work that our department and ministers have been doing on that transition.
If I can get you some more information about any particular incidents that we understand may be a result of what you have indicated, a result of the switching off of the 3G network—what I would say are two points that are really relevant to what you are raising. Even when this outage occurred on the Optus network, there were laws in place that should have prevented this from occurring.
They require telecommunications companies to take certain steps and to take certain measures to ensure that, if there is an outage, triple 0 is essentially rerouted through another provider. That did not happen in this case, and it didn't happen in the previous Optus outage. I think that the issues that you raise may be of a different nature.
I can clarify the application of this bill to those outages. But I would say that this bill, in particular, provides broad powers for the Triple Zero Custodian to direct ACMA to direct telecommunications companies not just to provide information but also to take certain steps, to undertake certain procedures and to do so in a proactive way. Whether this bill necessarily has a definition which captures that type of outage, I would say that the Triple Zero Custodian is focused on the ecosystem as a whole.
We're very mindful that there are many parts to that ecosystem. It is the job of the Triple Zero Custodian to ensure that each part of the ecosystem is working. The custodian has the following functions—and I think this might assist you in understanding how the Triple Zero Custodian could then be applied to a situation that you've been referring to.
The functions are aiding preparation for response to recovery, improving preparedness of outage, overseeing effective functioning of emergency call services and any other function conferred by the act. Importantly, I point out that there is a measure in the bill which enables the minister to specify an additional function. That is really designed for the minister to be able to, through legislative instrument, increase the functions of the Triple Zero Custodian so that, if we do find a situation where something like the incident that you have mentioned isn't necessarily covered, then there is scope to increase the functions of the Triple Zero Custodian.
However, I would argue that they are quite broad in nature and are designed to cover the situations which you have provided—although, if you have any more information about those particular individual incidents, please provide them to us through the minister's office, and we'll get you some information about that. But I'll seek some information, while you're speaking, about the particular application of this act to the 3G network.