Communications Minister Anika Wells faced heated criticism on Tuesday over her handling of the Triple Zero crisis, as she finally introduced legislation to empower an emergency call watchdog role recommended 18 months ago.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley used the first question of the afternoon to savage Wells over her self-description last week as a “new minister” – 147 days after being sworn into the portfolio - and demanded to know if Wells had spoken to the families of those who died during the outage.

“Being new is no excuse. Australians dialling Triple Zero in an emergency cannot wait for you to learn,” Ley said. “The minister isn’t across her brief and by her own admission, people have died. Given the magnitude of the crisis, does the minister regret her decision to prioritise a trip

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