1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,640 Speaker 1: Already and this is this is the Daily This is 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: the Daily OS. Oh, now it makes sense. 3 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday, 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:21,640 Speaker 2: the thirtieth of September. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy fitz Simons. 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 2: Over the weekend, Optus confirmed its second triple zero outage 6 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 2: in less than two weeks. The latest incident affected thousands 7 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 2: of New South Wales customers and it follows an outage 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,680 Speaker 2: linked to four deaths earlier this month. But Optus isn't 9 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 2: the only telco to report emergency call disruptions in recent years. 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,880 Speaker 2: You might remember a high profile Telstra outage in twenty 11 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 2: twenty four. So what's going on with our triple zero system? 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 2: In today's podcast, we are going to unpack these latest 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,360 Speaker 2: outages and explain how Australia's emergency call service works, who 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 2: is responsible for it, and what happens when it fails. 15 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 2: We'll get into all of that in too steep dive 16 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 2: right after a quick message from our sponsor. 17 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,479 Speaker 1: So, m OPTAs has been in the headlines a lot 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: this month, and I feel like there has been so 19 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: much going on that's kind of hard to know where 20 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,119 Speaker 1: to start. But I think we should start with what 21 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: happened over the weekend, the last thing that has happened. 22 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: Do you want to tell us about that? Exactly? 23 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: So the latest outage, the latest Opters outage was linked 24 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,560 Speaker 2: to a mobile phone tower in the Woollongong suburb of 25 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 2: Dapto in New South Wales that affected around four and 26 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,200 Speaker 2: a half thousand users in the area on Sunday between 27 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 2: three am and twelve twenty pm, so for over nine hours. Now. 28 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 2: OPTAs said it's reviewed nine failed calls to triple zero 29 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 2: during that time, including one instance where a caller required 30 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 2: an ambulance and used another phone to contact emergency services. 31 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 2: But the telco said that all of those who were 32 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 2: impacted are okay to use its own language and that 33 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 2: the issue has been fixed. 34 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: And so, so the reason why this made such big 35 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:06,120 Speaker 1: news is because it's actually the second outage this month. 36 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: Do you want to tell us about the first one? 37 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 2: Yes? So. On September eighteenth, Optus experienced a technical failure 38 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 2: is what it called it, during a network upgrade. Now, 39 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 2: this failure impacted triple zero calls in large parts of 40 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 2: the country across multiple states, including South Australia, the Northern 41 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,760 Speaker 2: Territory and Western Australia. There were also some calls in 42 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 2: New South Wales that were impacted, and that's because they 43 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 2: were closer to the SA border, so those calls relied 44 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 2: on South Australian mobile towers. Optus said that it happened 45 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 2: during a regular upgrade, so it was conducting a routine 46 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 2: upgrade in the early hours of the eighteenth of September, 47 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 2: a Thursday, and it said that its initial testing and 48 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 2: monitoring after that upgrade was rolled out didn't indicate any issues. 49 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 2: So on Optus's side, things all looked fine, but it 50 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 2: became aware of a problem when two customers contacted the 51 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,080 Speaker 2: telcoat report that they couldn't contact Triple zero. 52 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: And how did Optus respond to that? 53 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,840 Speaker 2: So, according to opt to CEO Stephen Rue, once it 54 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 2: was notified, quote, we stopped the upgrade, restoring Triple zero 55 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 2: and notified relevant stakeholders including police and government agencies. Approximately 56 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 2: six hundred calls were identified to have failed during that outage, 57 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 2: which lasted around thirteen hours, and once it had pulled 58 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 2: all the records from the network and had all the 59 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 2: call details of all the failed Triple zero calls, Optus 60 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 2: commenced welfare checks, So that involves reaching out to every 61 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 2: single person that tried to call Triple zero and couldn't. 62 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:43,200 Speaker 2: And during those checks, the CEO, Stephen Rue, confirmed three 63 00:03:43,320 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 2: people had died after the household was unable to contact 64 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 2: emergency services. 65 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: What do we know about those deaths? 66 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:52,839 Speaker 2: So the deaths include a sixty eight year old woman 67 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 2: from South Australia, a seventy four year old man in 68 00:03:55,840 --> 00:04:00,320 Speaker 2: Western Australia, and an eight week old boy. But we 69 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 2: have since heard from SA Police that while the family 70 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 2: of that baby was impacted by the outage, it's unlikely 71 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 2: to have contributed to. 72 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: The death of the baby. 73 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 2: So preliminary investigations by SA Police say that the grandmother 74 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:17,880 Speaker 2: of the boy attempted to contact Triple zero using her phone. 75 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 2: When she couldn't get through, she immediately used another mobile 76 00:04:21,839 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 2: telephone in the house which did successfully connect to Triple zero. 77 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 2: A couple of days after the outage, we heard about 78 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 2: an additional death, a fourth death linked to this outage, 79 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 2: and that was reported in WA a forty nine year 80 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 2: old Perth man. His body was discovered by police during 81 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 2: a welfare check. That welfare check was triggered by his 82 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 2: failed call and do. 83 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: We know what exactly caused this outage? 84 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 2: So the Optus CEO has blamed the outage on human error, 85 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 2: basically what he has called an employee failure to follow 86 00:04:56,120 --> 00:05:00,640 Speaker 2: established protocols for a routine firewall upgrade. And we don't 87 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 2: have you know, a lot more than that. There's some 88 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 2: technical terminology around that failure, but I don't think it 89 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 2: changes the fact that this is a human error that 90 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,680 Speaker 2: Optics is attributing the outage to. As for the most 91 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 2: recent outage, that one near Wollongong over the weekend, at 92 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 2: the time of recording, we don't actually know what happened. 93 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,760 Speaker 2: OPTAs said it's continuing to investigate the cause of the issue, 94 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 2: but that service has been restored. So we don't know 95 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 2: what happened near Wollongong, but we do know that users 96 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 2: in that area can now contact Triple zero without any issues. 97 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: Okay, so we're still learning more about that most recent outage, 98 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: but the earlier one has been linked to for desk. 99 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: Like you said, what I've been surprised to learn about 100 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: this is that what telephone company you're with does actually 101 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: impact your ability to call Triple zero. And so I 102 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:56,719 Speaker 1: guess my question is how does Australia's emergency call system 103 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: actually work? Like why is it connected to what tele 104 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: phone company you're is? 105 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,480 Speaker 2: So in a perfect situation, if everything is going smoothly, 106 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 2: it shouldn't actually matter who your telco is, and I'll 107 00:06:08,560 --> 00:06:12,680 Speaker 2: explain why. What's really important to understand is that Telstra 108 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,039 Speaker 2: plays a huge role in our Triple zero service. It's 109 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 2: recognized by the federal government as the quote emergency call 110 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 2: person for triple zero, also for one one two. If 111 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:27,320 Speaker 2: you call one one two, that's like the international emergency number, 112 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 2: no matter what country you're in, one one two will 113 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 2: connect you with the relevant emergency services. 114 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: Okay, wait pause, two things that I've learned. Yes, so 115 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,600 Speaker 1: Telstra is, you said, the emergency contact person. 116 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,599 Speaker 2: So that's what the kind of communications legislation, the Regulatory 117 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:49,600 Speaker 2: Framework has designated as its title. But what that means 118 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 2: is that Telstra is responsible for providing the service that 119 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 2: answers calls two triple zero, oh see, and it transfers 120 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:01,719 Speaker 2: them to the requested emergency service organization with relevant details. 121 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,159 Speaker 2: So when a person calls triple zero, they will speak 122 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 2: to a Telstra operator who will designate their call to 123 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 2: emergency services. So that's the person that answers the call 124 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 2: and says, you know, do you need police, ambulance, firefighters? 125 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 2: What's going on? 126 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: Are you? Saye? 127 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 2: What do you need? And then they will pass that 128 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 2: information on to the relevant authority. 129 00:07:23,480 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: Got it? And then the second thing I learned, I've 130 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: never heard of one one two before. 131 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, this was something that I didn't know either. So 132 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 2: one one two apparently is the number if you are 133 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,160 Speaker 2: overseas and you don't know the number for wherever you are, 134 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 2: it's one one too, not nine to one one. 135 00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: Interesting, and does that mean that if you can't if 136 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: you are in the situation where there is an outage, 137 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: maybe you don't know that there's an adage, but for 138 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: some reason you're not able to call Triple zero, do 139 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: you then call one one two and it should work. 140 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 2: If it's not working, as in these outages that we 141 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 2: are talking about today, if those systems aren't working, then 142 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 2: it doesn't matter if you call Triple zero or one 143 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 2: one two. So Telstra is the national operator of Triple zero, 144 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 2: regardless of which mobile network you're on. But this is 145 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 2: where it kind of gets a little bit more complicated. 146 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 2: Telstra operates the Triple zero service, but all mobile networks 147 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 2: have obligations to ensure your call can reach Telstra. So 148 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 2: if for whatever reason, you cannot connect to the network 149 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 2: that you're subscribed to, be that Optus Votera Phone TPG, 150 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 2: those telcos have an obligation to ensure that your phone 151 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 2: will attempt to roam and connect via another carrier's network. 152 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:38,760 Speaker 2: This is called camping on. Bear with me because I 153 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,440 Speaker 2: know it's a little bit complex, but basically, if your 154 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:45,199 Speaker 2: home network, let's say you're an OPTI customer, If your 155 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 2: home phone she's voted, well, full disclosure, I am with 156 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 2: OPTAs still oh perfect. If your home network isn't working, 157 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 2: your phone should automatically connect to any available network for 158 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 2: emergency calls. So Optis, voter Phone, TPG, Telstra, they all 159 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 2: have a relationship where they work together to ensure that 160 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 2: this camping on procedure can work. And they work together 161 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:12,240 Speaker 2: to make that work because they have to buy law. 162 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 2: So in Australia, those networks are required to take emergency 163 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 2: calls from customers of competing networks through that mechanism. 164 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: But it's a camping on process that failed here, we think, 165 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: so okay to just recap where we are. Telstra is 166 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,000 Speaker 1: responsible for the triple zero network. And so when anyone 167 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,400 Speaker 1: who's with any telephone company calls triple zero, they are 168 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: speaking to a Telstra provider, a Telstra person. 169 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 2: Yes, but Telstra's not responsible for the whole network. All 170 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,439 Speaker 2: providers are responsible for the whole network. 171 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: Got it. They're just responsible for who you're speaking to 172 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: on the other side of the phone, exactly, got it. 173 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: But your provider, so that could be Optis in your case, 174 00:09:55,720 --> 00:09:59,439 Speaker 1: Votaphone in my case. They are responsible for making sure 175 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:03,319 Speaker 1: that you can always reach triple zero. And if they're 176 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: not able to provide that or facilitate that, then another 177 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: network needs to be able to pick up your call. Exactly. 178 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,760 Speaker 2: So those providers are responsible for ensuring customers can reach 179 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 2: triple zero, including through their network or through camping on procedures. 180 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,040 Speaker 2: And Telstra are responsible for making sure that your call 181 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 2: will be answered by a person at a desk who 182 00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 2: will facilitate passing it on to the relevant emergency services. 183 00:10:27,520 --> 00:10:29,920 Speaker 1: Got it. And so I guess the next question is 184 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: why did this camping on process, this fall back process 185 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 1: not work here? 186 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 2: So Optus is still investigating why, But the problem seems 187 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,280 Speaker 2: to be that the Optus network couldn't actually detect that 188 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:47,280 Speaker 2: there was any issue, So testing in place after the 189 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 2: upgrade on that bigger outage appeared to show that everything 190 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 2: was working. Everything seemed fine as far as opters could tell. 191 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,600 Speaker 2: So the specific part of the network that handles emergency 192 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 2: calls needs to know it's broken in order to activate 193 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:03,959 Speaker 2: the camping on. So there needs to be a red 194 00:11:04,000 --> 00:11:06,199 Speaker 2: flag that says, Okay, this person has tried to call 195 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:08,679 Speaker 2: Triple zero and they're not getting through with our cell towers, 196 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 2: so we need to put their call through a votaphone 197 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:15,959 Speaker 2: tower or a Telstra tower over there. Optus, plainly, it seems, 198 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,120 Speaker 2: didn't know that that issue was occurring. So last week 199 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 2: it announced an independent review into the technical failure on 200 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,480 Speaker 2: the eighteenth of September that's the big one that was 201 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,839 Speaker 2: linked to multiple deaths. It said. The review will quote 202 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:31,960 Speaker 2: identify the causes and canvas the applicable processes, protocols, and 203 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 2: operations of the incident, and it will also examine the 204 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:39,040 Speaker 2: operational management of Triple zero calls in the Optus network 205 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:42,600 Speaker 2: and the actions that Optus took in response to the incident, 206 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 2: including whether or not it adhered to its legislative requirements, 207 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 2: So the findings from that are expected to be handed 208 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 2: down by the end of the year. 209 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say that it's quite a 210 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,680 Speaker 1: significant failure. I think Optus has basically said that themselves. Ye, 211 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 1: they've owned it and they've apologized ye. So what I'm 212 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 1: interested in is what happens now. I know there is 213 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: the Australian Communications and Media Authority. They are responsible for 214 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: regulating this space. So now that this failure has happened, 215 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,160 Speaker 1: what does AKMA do in response? 216 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:22,240 Speaker 2: Yeah, so AKMA basically responds by ensuring or investigating telco's 217 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 2: like OPTAs to see if they have carried out their obligations, 218 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 2: that they've met their legal requirements and basically to look 219 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,920 Speaker 2: into what they did before and after the outage. So 220 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,920 Speaker 2: AKMA can impose significant penalties and in terms of what 221 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 2: OPTAs might be preparing itself for. This isn't the first 222 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 2: time OPTAs has been in trouble under investigation for a 223 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 2: similar issue. It's also not the first time an AUSSI 224 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 2: telco has been in trouble for a similar issue. There 225 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 2: was a Telstra outage in twenty twenty four which was 226 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,560 Speaker 2: to do with the triple zero call Center, so a 227 00:12:57,600 --> 00:13:00,360 Speaker 2: little bit different. There were breaches identified there and a 228 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:04,360 Speaker 2: three million dollar penalty. But for Optis, you know, there 229 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 2: was this twenty twenty three outage that accrued a total 230 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 2: penalty of more than twelve million dollars from AKMA. So 231 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 2: that outage disrupted services for over ten million customers. It 232 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 2: impacted the ability of some calls to get through to 233 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:23,160 Speaker 2: triple zero. Ten million is huge. It's a bigger scale 234 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 2: than we've seen in the last few weeks for Optis, 235 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:29,160 Speaker 2: But the outcomes of the most recent outages you could argue, 236 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 2: have been much more devastating. So that event in twenty 237 00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:35,120 Speaker 2: twenty three led to a government review. There were a 238 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:39,480 Speaker 2: bunch of recommendations aimed at preventing a recurrence, but there's 239 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 2: obviously been a failure. 240 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: Has AKMA said what they will do about this failure? 241 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,560 Speaker 2: So AKMA has launched an investigation into Optis regarding the 242 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 2: September eighteen outage. That will involve closely examining not just 243 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 2: the outage in the fallout, but how did Optis communicate 244 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 2: with its customers to the public, governments, etc. How did 245 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 2: it notify or when did it notify Telstra as the 246 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:06,319 Speaker 2: emergency call person. 247 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: About the outage. 248 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,199 Speaker 2: How did it speak with National Emergency Management and AKMA 249 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,960 Speaker 2: and the government about what was going on. If Optis 250 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 2: is found to have failed under these obligations to those stakeholders, 251 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:22,360 Speaker 2: it will face serious consequences. As mentioned, there was that 252 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 2: twelve million dollar fine for the twenty twenty three outage. 253 00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:27,960 Speaker 2: Given that there already has been a penalty, that there 254 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 2: already has been action, I think AKMA will be taking 255 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 2: that into account. That this is not the first time 256 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 2: that there has been potential breaches Bioptus. There may have 257 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:42,600 Speaker 2: been a failure to enact recommendations by authorities about how 258 00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,440 Speaker 2: to prevent this from happening again. So I would say 259 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 2: AKMA will be coming down sternly on Optis. 260 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: Here. 261 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 2: The Communications Minister Anika Wells has said that Optis failed 262 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 2: the Australian people. Prime Minister Anthony Albernizi has called the 263 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 2: telco's behavior completely unacceptable. 264 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,560 Speaker 1: Yesterday I saw some headlines that the opposition leader Susan 265 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:06,680 Speaker 1: Lee is calling for a complete review of how Triple 266 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: zero is working in the country. 267 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So the coalition has said that the 268 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:14,920 Speaker 2: actions of Optus are not good enough. It's referred to 269 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 2: that review over the twenty twenty three emergency outage. There 270 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 2: were recommendations handed down that have been delayed, and essentially 271 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,120 Speaker 2: the Communication Minister has said that some of those oversights 272 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 2: will be fast tracked to kind of improve accountability and 273 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,680 Speaker 2: end to end oversight of Triple zero. But Susan Lee, 274 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 2: the Opposition leader, said that Optus has now been responsible 275 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 2: for three catastrophic failures and she is calling for, as 276 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 2: you mentioned, Billy, an independent inquiry into the whole Triple 277 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,920 Speaker 2: zero ecosystem. In that press conference on Monday, Lee said 278 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 2: governments have a responsibility here. The ecosystem needs an urgent inquiry, 279 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 2: not just by the regulator, not just by tiptoeing around 280 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 2: the government, but to stand up and fight for Australians 281 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 2: who deserve answers. OPTAs is under incredible scrutiny at all 282 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 2: levels of government and across all parties. The South Australian 283 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 2: government has criticized it for how it communicated about the outage, 284 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 2: noting delays between the company finding out about the issue 285 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 2: and actually notifying authorities. The South Australian Premier's office was 286 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 2: only notified of the incident at the same time as 287 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:26,320 Speaker 2: a press conference from the OPTA CEO. So you know, 288 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 2: we can all probably agree that's not a great way 289 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 2: for officials to have to learn about something like. 290 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: This, okay, And so in terms of what happens now, 291 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,280 Speaker 1: so we have this AKMA review that they have said 292 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: that they are doing, we have OPTAs saying that they 293 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Speaker 1: are conducting their own independent review, and then we also 294 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,400 Speaker 1: have this potential independent inquiry that Susan Lee, the opposition 295 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: leader is pushing for. So a lot of different reviews 296 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: potentially going on, and it will be interesting to see 297 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: what the result of those are exactly. 298 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 2: Clearly something is missing from the current system, but it 299 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 2: does feel like a lot of attention is being paid 300 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 2: to the system to Optus's actions, and I'm sure we 301 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,399 Speaker 2: will know more in the coming weeks and months. 302 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: And thank you so much for explaining it to us, 303 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,720 Speaker 1: Thanks Billy, and thank you so much for listening to 304 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,119 Speaker 1: this episode of The Daily Oz. We'll be back this 305 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: afternoon with your evening headlines, but until then, have a 306 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:23,000 Speaker 1: great day. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a 307 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: proud Arunda Bungelung Caalcuttin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily 308 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:30,880 Speaker 1: Oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands 309 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,120 Speaker 1: of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal 310 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects 311 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.