Communications Minister Anika Wells has told Optus to appoint an independent external reviewer to restore confidence in its ability to deliver Triple Zero services, following back-to-back outages that have been linked to three deaths.
“This is for Optus to take accountability for,” Wells said after meeting Singtel Chief Executive Yuen Kuan Moon and Optus Chief Executive Stephen Rue.
Wells said she conveyed a “collective conviction” that the outages were “completely unacceptable” and that Australians needed guarantees that the system would not fail again.
She also confirmed the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is running a formal investigation.
“There is a very serious lack of confidence in Optus to deliver Triple Zero services,” Wells said. “That is why it is right and proper that ACMA conduct this investigation.”
What Went Wrong
The demand for accountability comes after Optus suffered two major breakdowns in less than two weeks.
On Sept. 18, a firewall upgrade caused 600 Triple Zero calls to fail nationwide, an outage linked to three deaths.
Just days later, a second disruption hit parts of New South Wales, again blocking a dozen emergency calls.
The repeat failures have intensified scrutiny of the telco’s systems, raised questions about funding, and prompted wider concerns about governance.
In 2023, the federal government launched a review after a nationwide Triple Zero outage, handing down 18 recommendations to strengthen the system.
Among them was the creation of a Triple Zero custodian to oversee the entire network. More than 18 months later, several recommendations remain unfinished, including the custodian role.
When questioned, Wells said legislation for a “Triple Zero guardian” is being fast-tracked.
“I’m still a new minister … but we are fast-tracking our Triple Zero guardian legislation that will give confidence to Australians about the specific role Triple Zero plays in our country,” she said.
Pressure on the CEO
These back-to-back outages have also placed Rue under growing pressure. Speculation has mounted over whether he can survive the crisis, but Wells stopped short of calling for his resignation.
“I think the CEO of Optus has a lot of work to do, given these two outages have happened in short succession,” she said.
“He now needs to work with their parent company, Singtel, on the systems and holistic change required within their own company to give that confidence back to Australians.”
Yuen was pressed on whether Rue had his full support.
He avoided a direct answer, saying only that Rue was appointed 11 months ago “to transform Optus” after earlier governance failures.
“It takes time to transform a company … He is here to provide the solution,” Yuen said.
Optus Chair John Arthur backed Rue, saying the board was satisfied progress was being made, though it remained “a work in progress.”
While leadership remains under scrutiny, attention has also turned to whether chronic underfunding or management failures left Optus unprepared for critical outages.
Arthur said Rue had been specifically recruited “to fix the issues at Optus,” and the board believed he was moving in the right direction.
Yuen apologised to the families affected by the Sept. 18 failure and said it had been caused by a “step being missed by someone at Optus” rather than systemic underinvestment.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the people who passed away,” he said.
He described the breakdown as a “process issue,” separate from the more recent outage in New South Wales, which is still being investigated.
Arthur added that Optus would work with external experts to strengthen its governance.
“We are going to get all of the expertise and help that we need to make sure we make things right here,” he said.
When pressed for specifics, he said he “wasn’t in a position to talk about the details” following the meeting with Wells.
The company now faces multiple investigations, including by ACMA and its own board, and is bracing for further customer losses and long-term reputational damage.
Opposition figures say the outages have shredded public trust and exposed deeper flaws in how the telco is run.
Opposition Demands Broader Inquiry
The Coalition argued that the government itself should face scrutiny for failing to act sooner.
Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh said Wells had ignored repeated warnings about the fragility of the Triple Zero network.
“People across Australia need to have confidence in our Triple Zero network. These are lives that are at risk, and the government seems to show no sense of urgency,” McIntosh told ABC News.
She called for an independent inquiry into the resilience of the entire telecommunications system, including the NBN, not just Optus.
“We can’t allow the government to investigate itself,” she said. “There needs to be a thorough, independent review of the entire network.”
McIntosh also criticised Wells for attending a U.N. event during the Sept. 18 outage rather than convening crisis talks.
“The minister had the powers to act sooner,” she said, accusing Labor of “letting Australians down.”
