As it happened: New Optus outage affected Triple Zero calls in NSW; Commuter chaos as truck hits two Melbourne overpasses; Hanson moves to ban burqa

Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh has called for Optus chief executive Stephen Rue to front the public after another Optus outage this afternoon that may have affected calls to Triple Zero.

“Come and step up,” McIntosh told journalists at Parliament House in Canberra. “You stand here and speak to Australians and give them the confidence that they need that your network is going to provide the services that you promised.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“I said that when I had that meeting with [Rue], I had doubts that there wouldn’t be more Triple Zero outages. And again, this is about infrastructure. When we approach fire disaster season, which is happening right now, how are Australians going to have that confidence that they can make those Triple Zero calls?”

The outage in the NSW Hunter region has affected mobile voice and data services for 34,000 customers in Port Stephens, Maitland and other parts of the Hunter.

It comes two days after Rue faced a Senate inquiry into September’s outage, which has been linked to the deaths of three people.

“It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are that caused it,” McIntosh said. “When someone can’t make that phone call, it’s a life and death situation.”

Following the September outage, Optus pledged 300 people would be added to its Australian call centres with a focus on the emergency network, while safeguards surrounding Triple Zero calls would be increased.

Rules that took effect on Saturday require telcos to report Triple Zero outages to the communications watchdog and emergency services in real time.

With AAP