Only two such episodes have been recorded, in 2002 and 2019, with months of warmer, dry conditions preceding some of the nation’s worst bushfire seasons.
Wells will tell all three telecommunications company chief executives that, with the bushfire season approaching, the public has to have confidence in the reliability of the Triple Zero service.
She will tie the bushfire system to rules that start from November 1 that require phone companies to share real-time network information about outages with emergency service organisations and ACMA.
One of the complaints about Optus’ handling of the September 18 outage was its tardiness in informing governments and agencies.
Industry Minister Tim Ayres said the outages were due to Optus failures, with the government not to blame.
He said the government was moving quickly to implement a series of changes, including the creation of a tougher Triple Zero “custodian” to enforce compliance on telcos.
“This is all about Optus’ failures here,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh says the government should order an independent inquiry into the Optus outage.Credit: Janie Barrett
“As I understand it, that role has commenced, not the legislation but the function. The minister’s been working on those questions.
“That is … architecture that the government has committed to delivering. But in the end this is Optus’ failure, and it’s a pretty devastating failure.”
The Coalition is demanding an independent investigation into the entire issue.
Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said on Sunday that Wells had let down Australians by appointing ACMA to investigate when it was “part of the failed process”.
She said the government’s role had to be examined, particularly its response to an Optus outage that occurred in 2023.
“I think that’s going to be an important question as part of the investigation, that the government has done everything in its power, every single lever,” she told Sky News.
“There were warning signs in 2023 when Optus had the first outage. No one died. People died this time.”
The Coalition is expected to target Wells, who became communications minister after the election, over her handling of the Optus outage when federal parliament resumes on Tuesday.
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