Watch live: Communications minister speaks after Telstra outage
Communications Minister Anika Wells and Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain are scheduled to hold a press conference in Canberra at 1.45pm.
Watch live below:
Telcos the nation’s least trusted industry, says Wells
Communications Minister Anika Wells said Telstra would need to explain how and why its network crashed today, calling telcos the least trusted industry in Australia.
“The Triple Zero custodian has advised that some callers were unable to connect to the ECP [emergency call person], and that these are being now investigated by Telstra, and welfare checks are in progress, as is required by the law,” Wells told reporters in Canberra.
“The Triple Zero custodian is in regular communication with Telstra to receive updates on the progress and outcomes of these checks.”
Wells, who returned from leave following the outage, said telcos were “the least trusted industry in our country as we stand today”. She said the Triple Zero custodian was keeping a detailed account of who knew what and when.
“One of the improvements we wanted out of the Optus outage in September was to get a much better handle on that,” she said.
Telstra outage halts national freight networks
National freight networks have been halted because of the Telstra network outage, acting Transport Minister Kristy McBain has said.
“Emergency communications on our national freight network are down, so the Australian Rail Track Corporation has paused freight train operations,” McBain told reporters in Canberra.
“I’ve asked the National Emergency Management Agency to convene another National Coordination Mechanism [NCM] meeting this afternoon. The NCM will include relevant Australian government agencies, state and territory agencies, and Telstra, so there is a shared situational awareness and a co-ordinated response.”
PM meets Pacific leaders in Brisbane
As we wait for Anika Wells to hold a press conference in Canberra, the prime minister is meeting leaders of Pacific island nations in Brisbane.
Anthony Albanese will appear alongside the prime ministers of Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga at the launch of the Pacific Rugby League Partnership this afternoon.
He has just posted about his recent meeting with Tongan Prime Minister Lord Fakafānua on social media.
“Australia and Tonga share a close and enduring friendship,” Albanese said.
“Today, we continued our work to strengthen education, health, regional security and our response to climate change.”
Watch live: Communications minister speaks after Telstra outage
Communications Minister Anika Wells and Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain are scheduled to hold a press conference in Canberra at 1.45pm.
Watch live below:
Pilbara miners set for historic strike after BHP ‘stonewall’ pay deal
Workers at BHP’s crucial Port Hedland Bulk Export Terminal in WA’s Pilbara region will stop work for eight hours next week after pay deal negotiations with the iron ore giant failed.
The move by the Combined Ports Unions – made up of members from the Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and the Western Mine Workers’ Alliance – is understood to be the first strike action in the region for about 40 years.
The unions have given notification of an eight-hour stoppage at the facility on July 16 after a six-month stalemate with BHP over wage discrepancies among the current workforce.
Speaking at a press conference this morning, WA Premier Roger Cook said the Pilbara was the engine room of the nation, and he was concerned about any disruptions.
“Clearly I want the workers and the companies, through their unions and their representatives, to come to a good negotiated outcome,” he said.
Telstra outage ‘utterly shameful’: union
The union representing telecommunications workers has linked today’s Telstra outage to the company’s cuts to its workforce.
The Communication Workers Union national secretary, Shane Murphy, called the outage “utterly shameful” and said it was a direct result of the company running down its staff.
“This is what happens when you prioritise the bottom line over critical services; you get an unreliable network that lets Australians down time and time again,” Murphy said.
He urged Telstra to invest in its domestic workforce and cut outsourced work.
Telstra share price falls amid nationwide outage
The Australian sharemarket is on track for its worst day in five weeks and Telstra shares have dropped amid a nationwide telephone outage and renewed hostilities in the Middle East.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 89.7 points – or 1 per cent – around midday today.
Barring an afternoon turnaround, the session will be the ASX’s third straight day of losses and worst since a 1.1 per cent slide on June 4.
Telstra’s share price dropped 2.9 per cent to $4.92 per share just before 1pm after a widespread outage this morning.
Broader sharemarket losses come after the US launched “powerful” airstrikes targeting Iran’s ports, missile and drone sites and air defences, in retaliation for the Islamic Republic’s alleged targeting of two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
With AAP
‘Significant disruption’: Some Telstra customers couldn’t call Triple Zero during outage
The federal government has confirmed some callers were unable to connect to Triple Zero during the nationwide Telstra outage, prompting urgent welfare checks and demands for answers from the telecommunications company.
Communications Minister Anika Wells and acting Communications Minister Kristy McBain said the core Triple Zero system remained operational, but some calls failed to reach emergency call centres.
In a statement, the ministers said Telstra was required to investigate the incidents and complete welfare checks on affected callers.
They described the outage as widespread, causing “significant disruption” across Australia, with intermittent issues continuing despite about 90 per cent of affected services being restored.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority will conduct a full review of the outage once immediate issues are resolved.
Telstra CEO to return from leave ‘in the coming days’
We’ve had an update from Telstra confirming that its chief executive Vicki Brady is overseas on annual leave.
Chief financial officer Michael Ackland stood in for Brady at this morning’s press conference updating the situation, raising questions as to her whereabouts.
“Vicki is overseas at the moment and will be returning in the coming days,” a Telstra spokesperson said.
“Vicki has been briefed and kept updated throughout the morning. We’re making good progress on restoring services to full capacity.”
Taylor raises China concerns as Telstra outage probe continues
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said it was understandable Australians were questioning whether the Chinese missile test on Monday was connected to today’s telco outage, despite Telstra saying it did not suspect a malicious attack.
“We saw a provocative and unwelcome missile launch from the PLA yesterday, and I can understand why Australians are drawing that connection now. I don’t know whether there’s any connection. I have no idea, but it’s no wonder Australians are starting to ask questions like that,” Taylor told a Darwin press conference.
“We need answers to these questions. This is how you defend the nation. It’s true. The one part of defending the nation is making sure we have the drones and missile capability and the defence force we need, but in a modern era, cyberattack is real, whatever source it might come from, so we need to know the answers to these questions, and we need them fast.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce first claimed the outage could be linked to China’s ballistic missile test on Sky News this morning.
Telstra and the government have said there was no evidence of a malicious attack and the investigation into what went wrong was ongoing.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
