Sunita Somvanshi
A Senate committee has recommended that Australia transfer control of the Triple Zero emergency call service away from Telstra and place it under a dedicated government authority. The inquiry, which examined a series of Triple Zero outages including the September 2025 Optus network failure, tabled its report on September 21 with a package of 11 recommendations that would change how Australians access emergency services.
The Senate Environment and Communications Committee recommended moving the central Triple Zero call-taking function from Telstra to a new government authority. The inquiry also called for mandatory domestic mobile roaming—a measure that would allow customers to use another mobile network for calls and texts when their own network is unavailable—and for text-based emergency access to be made available nationwide.
The inquiry examined a series of catastrophic system failures, including the September 2025 Optus outage that left mobile customers unable to reach emergency services. ACMA has commenced Federal Court proceedings against Optus Mobile over that outage. The committee’s recommendations are not enacted law. They require a government response and legislative action before taking effect.
The recommendations would particularly affect Australians in regional, rural and remote areas where coverage may depend on a single mobile network. Mandatory domestic roaming would allow those customers to use a competitor network when their own provider fails, for both general calls and emergency services access.
What the Recommendations Would Actually Change
Moving Triple Zero from Telstra to a government authority would change administrative and operational responsibility but would not directly change the mobile network infrastructure that carries emergency calls. That distinction is central to the industry debate around the inquiry.
For background on how Triple Zero currently operates and what the Optus outage exposed, see . For an overview of how domestic mobile roaming works technically, see .
The Australian Telecommunications Alliance, which represents network operators, argues that the September 2025 failures occurred in Optus’s own mobile network rather than in the Triple Zero system itself, and that transferring administrative control of Triple Zero would not have prevented the outage.
Supporters of the recommendation argue that a dedicated government authority would have clearer accountability and stronger powers to mandate network resilience standards across all carriers, reducing the risk of a future outage having the same effect.
The inquiry’s framing and the industry’s counter-argument identify different problems. The Senate committee sees the Triple Zero operator as the point of accountability. The Telecommunications Alliance points to the mobile network as the point of failure. The two positions lead to structurally different solutions, and the government’s response will need to address both arguments directly.
What is Triple Zero and who runs it?
Triple Zero (000) is Australia’s national emergency call service, connecting callers to police, fire, and ambulance services. It is currently operated under a contract held by Telstra. The Senate inquiry has recommended transferring that function to a dedicated government authority to improve accountability and resilience.
The federal government has not yet responded to the Senate committee’s report. Check back as the government’s formal response is tabled and any legislative process begins.
