Home / Technology / Telstra stripped of Triple Zero oversight
Telstra stripped of Triple Zero oversight
21 Sep
Summary
- Telstra should lose control of Australia's 000 emergency hotline.
- A new independent authority is recommended to oversee Triple Zero.
- Report calls for text-based emergency calls and domestic roaming.
A cross-party inquiry has recommended that Telstra be removed from its role overseeing Australia's Triple Zero emergency services hotline. This significant shift in responsibility is proposed to be transferred to a new statutory authority, aiming to prevent future catastrophic outages.
The recommendation follows a series of failures, including a major Optus outage in September 2025 linked to two deaths, and a national Telstra outage in July 2026. The inquiry highlights that telecommunications laws are outdated and have not kept pace with technological advancements.
Further recommendations from the report include the development of a text-based system for contacting Triple Zero and the mandatory implementation of domestic roaming for calls and messaging. The inquiry also calls for a review of welfare check procedures after communication failures and the establishment of minimum network reliability standards.
