Government Did Not Immediately Know About Optus Outages, Senate Estimates Finds

Questioning in Senate estimates has revealed the government had not noticed two notification emails sent to a casually monitored inbox.

The Optus company sign is displayed in a store window in the central business district on Sept. 23, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Discussions around the receipt of two emails in relation to the September Optus outages that impacted emergency calls and led to three deaths dominated Senate estimates on Oct. 8.

On Sept. 18, Optus conducted a network firewall upgrade that resulted in the emergency phone number 000 being inaccessible in parts of South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.