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) (13:26): Thank you, Senator. If I can, as a courtesy, go back to the question that Senator Shoebridge asked, I can confirm that the broadness of the Triple Zero Custodian's functions will have a remit to deal with the types of outages that he referred to.

If there's an individual incident which you would like a response to, Senator Shoebridge, please bring that to the attention of the minister. Senator Hanson-Young, to clarify, the Triple Zero Custodian is currently administratively established within the department, and it is very clearly set out in the bill that, yes, the secretary of the department is the Triple Zero Custodian.

They have the functions that are conferred on them by the act. Those functions—I've gone through them; I don't think there's a need to go through those functions again—are broad and really seek to provide the power to direct the ACMA to undertake actions proactively to ensure that the triple 0 ecosystem is and was prepared for any type of possible outage. The secretary of the department, of course, can delegate those powers to SES-level employees.

That's in the bill as well, you will note, and that's a normal function to allow this to happen. But I can assure you that the secretary of the department takes these matters very seriously and is able to direct the ACMA to undertake a broad range of actions, which include information gathering on a regular basis, not just after an outage has occurred. A very important point which I think is worth making is that that information is then able to be provided, or required to be provided, to the minister, and I understand that there are some reporting requirements, again, for that information.

So there is accountability and transparency built into the system that has been developed. As I said, I know you have your criticisms of the timeframe between the finalisation of the Bean review and the consideration of those recommendations, but the way that the Triple Zero Custodian has been established and will be established through this bill has been consulted on.

There have been considerations about the best way to set this custodian up so it is most operational and most effective, and that's why this is the model that we have chosen. I can get you more information if you like, about how that will be staffed or resourced, but I think the main point at the moment is that those powers to direct the ACMA to obtain that information, undertake certain investigations and proactively source information about processes exist in this bill.

It will be a significant change to the way that we have managed the triple 0 ecosystem, and we will be seeking to pass the bill to allow that to be established in law. Progress reported. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Ghosh ): It being 1.30 pm the Senate will now move to senators' statements.