Triple Zero Custodian Bill passes, as Senate inquiry looms

Minister for Communications Anika Wells has announced the passage of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Triple Zero Custodian and Emergency Calling Powers) Bill 2025 through the Parliament, designed to strengthen oversight of Australia’s Triple Zero system. Introduced in the wake of Optus’s Triple Zero outage on 18 September, the new legislation cements the powers of the Triple Zero Custodian, which has been established administratively within the Department of Communications since March.

The new laws give the Custodian the power to demand information from telecommunications providers, through the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), so it can monitor Triple Zero performance, identify risks, respond more quickly to outages and make improvements. It will also increase the maximum penalties faced by telcos for failing to follow the Triple Zero rules to $30 million — which reflects the seriousness of Triple Zero failures, according to Wells.

Wells said these new powers are part of the direct action the Albanese government is taking to strengthen the Triple Zero system. This will include:

• real-time reporting of outages to ACMA and emergency services;
• new rules forcing telcos to test Triple Zero during upgrades and maintenance;
• new requirements on providers to ensure Triple Zero calls fall back to other networks;
• mandatory improvement plans after Triple Zero outages;
• the issuing of additional performance requirements to telcos within six months of the commencement of the laws, to assure Australians of best practice; and
• ensuring telcos maintain a public register of network outages.
   

“Australians must have confidence that Triple Zero will be there when they need it most,” Wells said.

“With these new powers for the Triple Zero Custodian, there will more active and effective monitoring to make sure this vital service meets their needs.

“Telcos must be held accountable for any failures in their obligation to deliver this vital service to Australians, and a strengthened Triple Zero Custodian will do that.”

The ACMA has welcomed the passage of the Bill, noting that it complements a range of measures implemented in response to the review into the Optus outage of 8 November 2023 — including establishing enforceable regulatory obligations on telcos to:

• communicate with customers and other key stakeholders in the Triple Zero ecosystem during major and significant local outages;
• improve network and device testing requirements; and
• enhance complaints-handling requirements for network outages.
   

With the new legislation giving ACMA the power to direct action from the telco industry to ensure the effective functioning of the Emergency Call Service (ECS), Acting Chair Adam Suckling said this is the next important step in improving the resilience and oversight of Australia’s emergency call system.

“Australians need confidence that Triple Zero will work when they need it most,” Suckling said. “The ACMA looks forward to working with the Custodian as it works with telcos and other stakeholders in the Triple Zero ecosystem to improve preparedness for ECS outage events and oversights the effective functioning of emergency call services.

“These changes complement ACMA’s regulatory role and will help protect Australians when they are at their most vulnerable, including in life-threatening situations.”

Consumer body ACCAN (the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network) was particularly pleased to hear that it will be mandatory for telcos to maintain a public outage register and update it in real time, having recently published a policy paper calling for the establishment of a consolidated, national register for telecommunications outages.

ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett thanked Wells for acting in response to calls from the community, ACCAN and others to inform consumers where and when telco outages occur and ensure a transparent public register of outages.

“Confidence in Triple Zero and telco services overall has taken a significant hit over recent times,” Bennett said. “This register is so important to stabilise community concerns.

“Information about even the most impactful of outages is inconsistently spread across telco websites and social media pages, but all too often these communications are unreliable, and consumers are forced to turn to updates from third-party media and social media forums.

“It is vital that the outage register is searchable, current and transparent. Ideally we would also prefer a centralised database to one which varies across providers. This would mean that customers with multiple providers do not need to jump between different registers to access the information about their services that they need.

“We thank the Minister for taking action on this important issue.”

ACCAN looks forward to working with the regulator and industry on the creation and implementation of the outage register. The organisation anticipates that this measure “can be quickly implemented, with minimal additional compliance costs for the industry, but important accountability obligations”, Bennett concluded.

But Shadow Minister for Communications Melissa McIntosh said the new register doesn’t go far enough, describing the government’s plan as a watered-down, telco-run register that lets the companies mark their own homework.

“The register the Albanese Labor government is putting forward is not public nor run by the government’s Triple Zero Custodian; rather, it will be self-operated by the telcos,” McIntosh said. “This mechanism is not transparent. The Coalition’s public Triple Zero outage register would ensure the telcos must report outage data in real time in a central location for all Australians to view which will provide additional accountability measures on the telcos.”

In addition to establishing a truly public Triple Zero outage register, McIntosh said the Coalition’s proposed amendments to the Triple Zero Custodian Bill included reducing reporting times from six months to every three months — and having these reports published publicly — as well as increasing the maximum financial penalties for Triple Zero outages from $10 million to $40 million. The Greens have since taken credit for the agreed $30 million penalty amount.

McIntosh was however pleased to announce yesterday that the Senate had agreed to her push — together with the Greens — for an open inquiry into Optus and the Triple Zero ecosystem following the September outage, and said she looks forward to the first hearing of the Parliamentary inquiry on 3 November.

“The Albanese Labor government blocked an inquiry three weeks ago into the Triple Zero network — but today, the inquiry was supported by the Senate,” McIntosh said. “It is absurd why the government didn’t agree to an inquiry, as this work could have already been underway. It’s as if the government doesn’t want to face accountability for their own role in this Triple Zero crisis.

“We need to get answers for every Australian who has lost faith in the Triple Zero network right now. No stone must be left unturned during this Senate inquiry. Every telco and government official involved with the Triple Zero network is on notice — front up to this inquiry and answer the questions Australians desperately want answered.

“We are coming into disaster season, and this inquiry which starts on 3 November must review every nook and cranny of the ecosystem to ensure the safety of all Australians and their ability to call Triple Zero in their greatest moment of need.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Kokkai Ng