Title: Optus Misaddresses Triple-Zero Outage Notification

Optus has come under scrutiny after it sent notifications regarding a significant triple-zero outage to the wrong email address, delaying government awareness of the incident linked to three fatalities. The incident occurred on September 18, when Optus was required by regulation to inform the Department of Communications about the emergency call failure.

During a Senate estimates hearing, Deputy Secretary James Chisholm revealed that Optus sent two emails on the day of the outage. The first email, sent at 2:45 p.m., reported the outage, while the second, sent at 2:52 p.m., indicated that the issue had been resolved. However, both emails were directed to an outdated address that was not monitored. As a result, the department did not learn about the outage until contacted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) at 3:30 p.m. the following day, more than 36 hours after the outage began.

Chisholm stated, "That communication ... was sent to the wrong address, which we have told industry a number of times is not to be used as a source for notification. We were not notified of the outage properly, and in this case, it was by the regulator, until the Friday afternoon."

The outage was attributed to a routine firewall upgrade on the Optus network, which prevented over 600 triple-zero calls from connecting in South Australia, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and parts of New South Wales. Additionally, the calls failed to redirect to another operational network, despite legal requirements to do so.

In response to the incident, Communications Minister Anika Wells met with Optus CEO Stephen Rue and proposed new legislation aimed at increasing oversight of the telecommunications sector. This legislation would establish a dedicated watchdog for the triple-zero service.

Meanwhile, opposition members in the House of Representatives have called for an independent inquiry into the outage, arguing that the ongoing review by ACMA is inadequate. Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh criticized the government for what she described as "disgraceful" behavior in avoiding scrutiny of the triple-zero network.

The situation continues to develop as the government and telecommunications industry address the implications of the outage and the notification failure.