MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS ANIKA WELLS: Good afternoon, everyone. Telstra has now provided formal notice to the Triple Zero Custodian that their outage has been resolved. And on the progress of welfare checks, I can advise that the Triple Zero Custodian has advised me that all remaining welfare checks that Telstra needed to refer to state emergency services - that is where Telstra customers have not responded to Telstra and need to be investigated by first responders in their state - all of those referrals have now been completed, and I can advise that there were no adverse outcomes associated with those referrals. I'm sure that is a huge relief to Australians. 

I want to take a moment to thank the state and territory emergency services for their work, particularly those who provided support to the seven individuals who did need assistance out of those welfare checks. Their quick and diligent work on this occasion may well have saved lives. 

Like all Australians, I did not want or expect to be dealing with another mass outage so soon after the Optus incident. The last few days have been really difficult for many Australians. And now that Telstra has resolved its outage, it is time for Telstra to face the music. Telstra has a lot of questions to answer. We need to get to the bottom of what happened. We need to understand how to prevent it from happening again to make sure that something like this does not happen ever again. And I expect that Telstra will cooperate fully and transparently with all investigations, and the CEO and CFO have both given me that assurance. 

Telstra has held special trust from Australians. It has been respected as the premium service. It is an iconic company. It has a rich history. But that trust really stands in peril today. It is going to take Telstra a lot of time and a lot of work to rebuild that trust with Australians. And I want Australians to know that the Government will hold Telstra to account, as we hold all of the telecommunications industry to account. Telstra will need to prove to Australians that it is a reliable service that puts Australians first. 

The Albanese Government has significantly increased regulation and scrutiny of this industry in our time in government, and we will work collaboratively as partners but we will not take a backward step when it comes to holding telcos to account. 

I'll now hand over to Adam Suckling, the Deputy Chair of ACMA.

ADAM SUCKLING, ACMA DEPUTY CHAIR: Thank you very much, Minister. My name is Adam Suckling. I am the Deputy Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority. The Chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority is not here today because she is appearing before the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, and in fact, I think she is giving evidence right now. 

We take Telstra's outage of Wednesday with the utmost seriousness. Telstra provides an essential service, and millions and millions of customers and millions of Australians rely on that service. And on Wednesday, they let the country down. Therefore, on the day of the outage, we announced and we informed Telstra, that we would commence an investigation. And we're investigating into whether Telstra has complied with its legal and regulatory obligations under the law, including a range of new measures that the Government introduced to beef up the triple zero system. Under those new powers, Telstra can face civil penalties of up to $30 million. So, we will be working very hard to hold them to account. 

Thank you, Minister. 

WELLS: Happy to take your questions. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, you've said that it's time for Telstra to face the music, no backward step from the Government, their trust with the public stands in peril. Should the CEO consider her position? 

WELLS: I think the CEO got asked that question earlier today and said this is a matter for the investigation. We are on day three of the outage. I was advised, between the Telstra press conference and standing before you now, that this issue has been formally resolved. ACMA is on day three of its investigation. I think she said that the board will contemplate that as part of its internal processes. We would expect Telstra to comply fully and transparently with the investigation that ACMA will undertake. The Triple Zero Custodian will also be conducting a post-incident review, and I will wait for those facts and recommendations to come in before I consider my position.

JOURNALIST: Putting yourself in Telstra customers' shoes, is it fair that they have to call up the telco, potentially spend an hour on the phone, something that some Australians already dread, to make a complaint to maybe get some compensation? Why should small businesses be put out even more?

WELLS: I would expect that Telstra provides an expedited triage process for its customers to deal with compensation here. That's only fair. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, on numerous occasions, but specifically two years ago, the government-run Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre actually alerted critical infrastructure operators that there was quite a reliance in their systems on GPS and timing systems. Could more have been done to force those infrastructure holders like telcos to make sure that there were redundancies in their system - maybe this is a question for ACMA as well - about actually addressing what has clearly been an area of potential weakness identified for many years by government authorities. 

WELLS: Well, I would say, as you would well know, Telstra is captured by security critical infrastructure legislation, which means it has to observe higher standards and more rigorous processes when it comes to discharging their duties - that is a right and good thing. Adam, did you want to elaborate? 

SUCKLING: I'll just make one point, Minister. One of the things that we're looking at under our investigation is that Telstra need to ensure that they do everything they possibly can to make sure that people can get through to triple zero. That includes maintaining their network. So one of the questions we will inevitably look at and ask them about is how they configured their network, which will inevitably involve us asking questions around the equipment that they've got in the network. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, have you sought briefings from South Australian Police, the Government in South Australia, or Telstra about a death that has been potentially linked to this outage? 

WELLS: So, you understand the SA Police investigation is ongoing and Telstra cooperated with them overnight. And you heard in their Telstra press conference that they provided a technical update at what their investigations had heard at their end at this stage. We are all working collaboratively together. We await the SA Police investigation to run its course. But there is currently no evidence that there is any causative link between the Telstra outage and this very sad outcome. 

JOURNALIST: Has that been conveyed to you in briefings you've had directly with those bodies? 

WELLS: Yes. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, former Senator Derryn Hinch has passed away today. One of the nation's most respected broadcasters. As Communications Minister, can you reflect on his career? Would you hope the Government maybe holds a state funeral for Derryn Hinch? 

WELLS: Well, I offer my condolences to all of those who loved Derryn Hinch. As the Communications Minister, obviously to me, he's known best as a journalist, a renowned journalist - he was an author; lately, a federal senator. I think he will be remembered as an icon of the media, I think that's fair to say, and by all those fondly whom he fought and advocated for. I'll leave those questions to the Prime Minister. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, on Clare's question, federal government agencies and academics warned Telstra about this glitch. Do you think that this outage could have been avoided? 

WELLS: I will wait for the facts and recommendations to come in from the ACMA investigation – Adam, I don't know if you want to speak to that further – and the Triple Zero Custodian post-outage review in order to make any determinations about further policy. But I would make the point we have done a lot as a Government since what happened in September happened - we legislated the Triple Zero Custodian, we increased the fines to $30 million. We now have another piece of legislation before the Parliament right now which would give the minister new powers to mandate mobile minimum standards across the country.

Now, I'm disappointed to say that we sought to work with the Coalition on that before introducing it to Parliament - they were not collaborative, they did not offer any suggestions, they did not offer any improvements to that bill. They've been speaking against it in the House. They have not given me any indication that they intend to support it. But that bill before the House right now would give the Minister new powers to mandate minimum standards domestically and terrestrially, not just on satellites. And I would urge the Opposition to collaborate with us and to get that bill passed. 

SUCKLING: I'll just make two points in relation to that - some of the new powers that the Minister has referred to. Telstra has an obligation to provide, 45 days after a major outage like this, a report which explains very, very clearly why it happened and what the steps that they've taken to make sure it won't happen again. They have to provide that report to the ACMA and also to the Custodian. And the second thing I'd add is, in our investigation we will, of course, ask all of these questions and then the ultimate conclusions of our investigation will be made public. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, what did you make of the CEO’s apology? 

WELLS: It was the right thing to do. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, I know you were asked about this on Wednesday, but Michael Ackland just now said there were- had recent issues with camp-on system. There's supposed to be this industry campaign to make people aware if they're on an older device that might not be capable of doing this camp onto another network to call Triple Zero.

WELLS: Yes.

JOURNALIST: Where is that campaign at? Could we see it shortly? Do you think that this now needs to be fast-tracked and rolled out to make sure that isn't a gap in the system?

WELLS: We have already been working with the Telecommunications Alliance on that particular campaign, and with the three telcos, obviously. There is nothing in what we know so far about this outage that would suggest that, had that campaign already been on foot, it would’ve made any difference to the outcomes here. But of course, we will continue that work. 

JOURNALIST: We've heard some pretty scathing remarks about big tech companies at the Royal Commission today, about how they've engaged but also what they do to tackle antisemitism. Have you been satisfied, as Communication Minister, with how these platforms have engaged with the Royal Commission? And then also there was a suggestion or questions today about whether X should be banned in Australia. Do you think that the platform X has lost its social licence here? 

WELLS: I can't speak to the experiences of the Royal Commission because I stand over here as the Communications Minister. I can say, as the Communications Minister, the efforts from social media platforms have been highly patchy when it comes to upholding and obeying Australian laws. That's why we're so keen to legislate the digital duty of care in the second half of this Parliament. 

JOURNALIST: And just a follow-up on that one, sorry. One of the concerns raised is that a lot of these platforms don't have moderators based in Australia, they don't have a corporate presence. Would you urge these platforms to establish that in Australia? 

WELLS: I would urge social media platforms, if they want to make profits from Australian companies, if they want to transact their business on Australian shores then they should uphold Australian laws. 

JOURNALIST: Minister, given all the changes that were implemented after Optus, are telcos still too slow in informing the Federal Government about the outage in the first place? And given that the Telstra CEO this morning, she was dodging questions about whether executives should still get bonuses, is that a fair thing for executives to still be in line for bonuses when small businesses and other customers need to be compensated?

WELLS: I think we can all agree that telcos need to lift their game. And I want to reassure Australians that we will hold Testra's feet to the fire so they feel your pain. What has gone on here is not good enough and Telstra has committed to cooperating fully with the Government, with ACMA, in our investigations. Now, obviously the result of the ACMA investigation ultimately becomes a question of penalties, so we need the facts and the recommendations to play out before we get to that. 

SUCKLING: Can I just add one thing.

JOURNALIST: Yeah, you may.

SUCKLING: Thank you. Just to your question. That question about did they meet their obligations to tell people in a timely manner what was going on, that is one of the things that we will look at in our investigation.

JOURNALIST: Can I just pick up on that? Telstra have said that they started to identify this issue at around 4:20am Sydney time. That it was something that kind of grew in scale and that it only, quote, hit a certain threshold, at about 7:00am, which was when your office, Minister, was contacted; it’s when Vicky was told; it's when Michael Ackland was told. That's more than two and a half hours. Is that something that you think is satisfactory, particularly given, for example, media were being given a statement about this issue some half hour before your office was informed?

WELLS: That's what they're required to do under the law. They have obligations under the law and we have bolstered those obligations since September - that's one of the things that has been improved in this outage compared to September. Adam, did you want to speak to the timing?

SUCKLING: Look, I just wanted to reiterate that it’s something that we will look at. And that’s a very, very good question - what was the most appropriate point that they should have told their customers, the public and key stakeholders what was going on.

JOURNALIST: I wanted to ask you about the gambling legislation. As part of that, as part of the opt-out feature you said that you want people to be able to get clear, accessible and functional mechanisms to opt out. What does that look like from your perspective when someone goes on an app? Are you expecting that they would get notified straight away to be able to opt-out? Or how deep into the settings do you expect people would have to go, such as on the SBS On Demand app, to need to opt out of wagering advertising.

WELLS: Well, that's exactly what I've said previously and what I'll say again today. That, to me, looks like the technology that SBS On Demand uses on their app. If you've done it yourself, I've done it, it's easy to navigate. SBS has generously offered to share that technology with other apps and services that will require it. I think that's very good of one our national public broadcasters to offer that. It shows that it is possible and that's what we expect companies to deliver by 1 January.

JOURNALIST: So, it will be replicated like the SBS rather than have like a pop-up notification as soon as you go on to an app or, as soon as this is enacted?

WELLS: Well, we now have to wait for a Senate inquiry into the legislation, so I will wait for those recommendations to come back and see what we learn from that.

JOURNALIST: The Government has laid out what it's done since the Optus crisis.

WELLS: Yes.

JOURNALIST: Why hasn't the government considered lowering the price of spectrum as EU countries have done, given warnings that high spectrum prices could crimp network investment and also potentially treat future outages?

WELLS: We did speculate whether we would get a question about the cost of spectrum today. Telcos are obviously upset at the price they are paying at spectrum. Telcos are paying less for spectrum as a result of this process than they did the last time around. Adam might like to discuss the extensive work that ACMA did into the price of spectrum, but spectrum is a national commodity that Australians hold, and companies that seek to make a profit out of using that national commodity should pay a fair price for it.

JOURNALIST: But countries like France, Portugal and Spain have spoken to both of you. They’ve made spectrum rights free in exchange for telecos promising to bolster their network's resilience. Why wouldn't Australia consider that model?

SUCKLING: What we have done is, under the Act we need to make sure that we manage spectrum efficiently. We went through a very, very, very detailed process in which we sought information from four world respected economic consultant groups and we had the methodology that we adopted peer reviewed, and we came up with what is a very, very fair price. As the Minister said, the price is a billion dollars less than what they currently pay. Spectrum makes up a very, very small proportion of their overall costs.

And we have a lot of advice from experts around the world that suggests that decisions to invest in networks are driven by expectations about future revenue, and their future revenue expectations are fairly good in the medium term.

JOURNALIST: Do you reject, basically, telcos' assertions?

SUCKLING: I do. We completely reject their assertions.

JOURNALIST: What do you know - this is may have already been covered in previous technical jargon answer - but to be clear, are you calling for a technical audit of Telstra's servers?

SUCKLING: What I said was we're doing an investigation, and in the process of doing that investigation, it will inevitably involve us looking at some of these technical questions. And they have …

JOURNALIST: [Interrupts] Is that something you would like to see then? Sorry, on their service, a technical audit of their service?

SUCKLING: Well, I mean, we will investigate their network. We'll investigate why the outage occurred, and we'll inevitably look at questions around did they properly configure their network to make sure that it could work to deliver calls to emergency services.

JOURNALIST: Minister, just on the timing again, I don't think we've quite heard your response as Minister. Is two and a half hours appropriate?

WELLS: I was asked that question on day one on Wednesday, so I did say that I was disappointed not to be notified earlier, but that I would reserve my comments beyond that to awaiting the facts of the investigation. Because at the moment, we don't know what happened between 4:30 and 7 o'clock. We should know what happened between 4:30 and 7 o'clock, and that will help us determine what should have been done better.

JOURNALIST: Minister, as you mentioned before, you said that Telstra was technically meeting its legal requirements to only notify you when it reached a certain threshold. Do you think that threshold needs to be lower? Is that something you're going to consider?

WELLS: I will consider the facts, outcomes and recommendations of the Triple Zero Custodian’s review in particular, because I have found the work of the Triple Zero Custodian immensely useful during this outage. And in speaking with Vicki Brady and Michael Ackland, Telstra has found that to be the case also. This is something that has helped Australians. The fact that welfare checks were turned around so quickly- let's recall in September that it took Optus 13 hours to commence welfare checks after Triple Zero went down. In this instance, as far as we know today, those welfare checks commenced within minutes. Seven people did require further assistance. That may well have saved lives, and we thank again everybody that worked on that to make sure that that system worked better this time around.

JOURNALIST: Looking at the bigger picture, these outages seem to be happening more frequently even as we're more and more reliant on telecommunications. The telcos have never been under more scrutiny. We've had inquiry after inquiry. So why do these keep happening? Is there an indication that the sector is getting more complex, or are the companies undercutting funding and undercutting their services?

WELLS: Well, we're currently in the middle of implementing the final recommendation of the Bean Review, which is the review of the review, which is a sort of root and branch review into Triple Zero trying to set it up for decades to come, make it fit for purpose for decades to come. So that work is ongoing, but I make the point that there has been substantial improvements since September. And telcos, I hope, understand that there is a lot more work to be done. I did a speech in February to the industry setting out the roadmap, because at the moment, this is the problem. There is a large gap between the way that this industry has been regulated for a long time, 30 years, and what a modern customer expects of their telco. And it is beholden on all of us to address that gap. We've been working on it. We're closing it. It's not closed, and we all need to do a lot more work to make sure that it closes.

JOURNALIST: Minister, on the SBS On Demand app, you’ve said that you're going to use that model in your response before, but people like Tim Costello say that less than 1 per cent of users have actually opted out. So, you know, according to that, it's ineffective. Why would you then pursue that model?

WELLS: I haven't said I'm going to use it as the model. I said in this press conference today that it is an example of technology that already works. The fact that the percentage of usage I think speaks more to the fact that people don't know about it, rather than whether or not it's effective. And I think that the more we discuss it, the more people know about it. Everybody I've talked to about it has done it. My colleagues have sat and done it next to me in a division. It's that easy to do …

JOURNALIST: [Interrupts] [Indistinct] … crux of my question before about how obvious it would be made to users whether or not they- like, you know, is it a pop-up notification, or do they have to dive into the settings? What's your expectation?

WELLS: Our job as lawmakers is to set the law that companies must abide by. My point today is that there are examples that companies can use already that are out there. And the fact that we are going through this process, we will go through a legislative inquiry now and move through both Houses of Parliament to deliver an outcome in gambling reforms, is a good thing. But my concern is that the longer we drag that out, the longer we put at peril the 1 January implementation. And I think everybody wants to see gambling reforms implemented as quickly as possible. And I expect all companies who will be subject to this legislation to be ready for 1 January 2027. And if they aren't ready for 1 January 2027, they will not be able to advertise gambling on their platform.

JOURNALIST: I’m so sorry, this has just come out of the South Australian Police press conference. I just wanted to get your reaction to it. It's been reported that the police investigated and can confirm that a report of a failed phone call was incorrect, that two calls had were made without any difficulty from Telstra numbers. So obviously you're just hearing this now, I assume for the first time, but does that give you some relief, I guess, that potentially this incident, although someone has died, is not necessarily linked to the outage as far as police have reported just now?

WELLS: It's a huge relief. I have advice from the Triple Zero Custodian that there were no adverse outcomes from the referrals made to state emergency services. This particular very sad case has been a different- it's been an outlier to that. It was reported by a South Australian senator on her social media page. I am grateful that SA Police were so proactive. I am staggered that it took the SA Police going to door-knock the SA senator to exert her to provide the information that she had so that we could get to the bottom of this. I am relieved that the outcome here is that there is no causative link between the outage and what is a tragic loss for the family. And let's all send our condolences to the family who are mourning the loss of a loved one today.

JOURNALIST: Would you call on some of your political colleagues for future outages or events to consider what information they put into the public arena? We saw Barnaby Joyce suggesting that maybe China was involved. We saw this post go out from a senator before police properly investigated. That just adds fear, doesn't it?

WELLS: It is really disappointing how much the Opposition has played politics with the Communications portfolio in the past week. They sent the social media legislation asked for by Julie Inman Grant to an eight-week inquiry off a 500-word piece of legislation. Like you said, the Opposition Leader Angus Taylor went out and made completely unsubstantiated remarks about the source and malicious source of this Telstra outage. There is no evidence for that. We're on day three. There remains no evidence from that from any of the authorities whose job it is to know about that.

We had the Shadow Opposition Communications Minister make Triple Zero calls herself – she should account for why she thought that was a helpful contribution to a national outage. She would have had to have welfare checks undertaken on her, those welfare checks would have been processed. That is resourcing on a system under strain that she that she has occupied, and it's up to her to account for why that was a helpful contribution. The Opposition Leader then defended her actions by saying she was technically not in breach of the law. If you are the Opposition Leader and you are having to defend your frontbenchers as not technically in breach of the law, you have made a wrong step somewhere along the journey. And now an Opposition senator has made a post on social media that has sent SA Police, a huge number of first responders and authorities, on an investigation which now, according to Clare, you know, I've not yet seen this, but I trust the ABC, has demonstrated there is no causative link between the outage and this tragic death whatsoever. So I think the Opposition have a lot to account for in their conduct out of this week. I'm disappointed, but I have gotten on with the job. We have been working diligently day and night. We are very pleased that this outage has been resolved, but it is now time for Telstra to face the music and I will hold them to account.