Australian Senate Examines Optus Notification Failure in September Outage
The controversy surrounding Optus’s September 18 outage intensified at a combative Senate estimates hearing, where department officials disclosed that two emails notifying the Department of Communications about the incident were sent seven minutes apart to a defunct, unmonitored email address. The revelation comes after three people lost their lives because Triple Zero was unreachable, heightening scrutiny of how critical outage information is relayed to the government during emergencies.
What Went Wrong: The Wrong Email Address Used
Deputy Secretary James Chisholm told the Senate committees that notification is not complete unless it reaches the correct recipient. “I would not consider notification complete if it’s sent to the wrong place. So notification occurs when it is given to the right recipient. In this case, it was not,” he said. Kathleen Silleri, assistant secretary of the emergency communications section, confirmed that Optus had routinely used the correct email channel for other outages but that this time the alert landed in a defunct inbox.
Two emails to the wrong address were delivered seven minutes apart, but the department did not discover them until after it reviewed its systems in the wake of the outage and later ACMA’s intervention on September 19. The department’s position is that the crucial failure was Optus’s misdirection of the notification rather than an issue with the inbox’s monitoring protocols.
Why the Correct Channel Matters
Officials emphasized that the regulatory mailbox is the standard conduit for critical alerts. Assistant Secretary Samuel Grunhard stated that Optus’s failure to send the notification to the regulatory mailbox — instead of sending it to a non-monitored address — meant the department could not act on the information in a timely manner. The episode underscores the vital importance of correct channel usage in emergency communications, where seconds can influence outcomes.
The Department’s Position and Political Backlash
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young pressed for clarity, highlighting that the emails remained unread for more than 24 hours. Department witnesses confirmed the inbox was not monitored consistently, and the Optus notices only came to light after ACMA flagged the outage. Hanson-Young accused the department of providing a misleading opening statement by asserting notification had occurred when, in fact, the communications had not been seen until the regulator intervened.
Chisholm responded by focusing accountability on Optus: the central issue was Optus’s failure to notify via the correct regulatory channel. When pressed about why the defunct address had not been retired or redirected, he indicated the question was less about the forwarding system and more about the initial misaddressing by Optus.
One Blocker: How to Prevent a Repeat
In the hearing, the panel signalled that recommendations would follow to tighten outage notification obligations. The department suggested that industry-wide reminders of the correct inbox and potential fallback procedures should be part of ongoing regulatory oversight. The objective is to ensure that critical alerts reach the right desk promptly, with redundancy to shield against similar misdirection in the future.
What this Means for Emergency Communications in Australia
The broader implication is a call for stronger governance around incident notification. The September events highlight gaps not only in the speed of receiving alerts but also in the reliability of the channels used to deliver them. For residents and families affected by outages, the reliability of Triple Zero services and the systems that feed emergency responders depend on precise, timely, and correctly directed notices from telecommunications providers.
Next Steps
As the inquiry proceeds, policymakers are expected to pursue concrete measures to ensure telecoms adhere to designated reporting channels and to improve monitoring practices so that alerts are flagged and escalated without delay. The case will likely influence future regulatory expectations for telecom operators and emergency services in Australia, reinforcing the principle that proper notification channels are as critical as the outage data itself.
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