Senators accuse telcos of Triple Zero ‘cover-up’ over system failures

“Everyone in the department and minister’s office were very relieved to learn that, in fact, there was no fatality,” Grunhard said.

But that information was wrong and Grunhard on Tuesday admitted the department never verified TPG’s claim with NSW Ambulance or the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the communications regulator.

It was only on Monday night – more than two months after the customer’s death – that Telstra called Grunhard “concerned that they had a different understanding” ahead of the hearing.

“September, October, November – 2½ months down the track – and you’re saying only because the telcos were fronting this inquiry today, someone bothered to pick up the phone,” Hanson-Young said.

Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady gave evidence on Tuesday that NSW Ambulance had emailed Telstra at 9.30am on September 24 advising “the patient had passed away” after failing to reach Triple Zero.

Telstra immediately informed the department. Telstra executive Cecelia Burgman confirmed she called the first assistant secretary at 11.01am, and he said he had already spoken to TPG.

But Brady admitted Telstra did not raise the incident in a meeting with Wells, the minister, on October 20, nearly a month later. Brady said Telstra understood the department and ACMA were investigating. “It’s not, I think, our responsibility,” she said.

Berroeta told the inquiry that he only learnt of the death on Monday via a tip from a Telstra staff member.

“That information was never disclosed [to] us,” Berroeta said.

The conflicting accounts prompted Hanson-Young to accuse the industry of concealment: “There is another inquiry being run into Triple Zero and Optus, and not at one point in this did anyone within the industry want to ’fess up and say there had been another death six days later.”

Nationals senator Ross Cadell suggested the failure to publicise the September incident might have contributed to a second death on November 13, when another TPG customer died after their Samsung phone failed to connect to Triple Zero.

“By not saying anything, by keeping quiet, we haven’t alluded to the people that’s a problem,” Cadell said. “The silence of everyone has potentially contributed to that second one happening because we weren’t making people aware.”

Hanson-Young agreed: “If there had been public attention and knowledge of this particular incident on September 24 … then perhaps people would have taken those text messages, emails and phone calls from TPG more seriously.”

The issues stem from the national 3G shutdown, which has exposed a flaw in older devices. Certain older phones still fall back to 3G for Triple Zero calls even though they use 4G for normal calls, meaning they fail completely once 3G networks are turned off.

TPG said on Tuesday that 18,000 devices on its network cannot reliably connect to Triple Zero: 10,000 need software updates while 8000 must be replaced. Only 500 customers had accepted free replacement phones despite two years of warnings.

“There’s 8000 people there who will never be able to call Triple Zero on that phone,” Hanson-Young said.

“Good customer relations would be giving those people a new phone now.”

Telstra had 29,000 affected devices and blocked them on 26 November. Brady said Telstra had replaced almost 4000 phones free of charge – a figure eight times higher than TPG.

Samsung’s mobile boss, Eric Chou, told the hearing his company only learnt at Tuesday’s inquiry that there had been a death on September 24 linked to its devices. About 98,000 Samsung devices across all three networks still need software updates.

Wells declined to appear before the hearing, and told Hanson-Young she was “accountable to the parliament in the House of Representatives”.

Wells was in New York on September 24 promoting the social media ban, in a trip that cost more than $100,000 for flights and hotels for herself and two staffers. The embattled minister is also facing a wider furore over her use of parliamentary expenses.

“It is disturbing to hear about this tragic outcome,” she told this masthead. “Investigations are under way into what happened and why the department and ACMA were not provided the correct details.”

Senator Sarah Henderson said the buck stopped with the minister: “After the minister is notified on September 24 through her chief of staff, was there any communication back from the minister or her office?”

Grunhard said there were “a number of conversations” but took detailed questions on notice.

When Cadell, the Nationals senator, accused the department of being “more important looking good than doing good”, Grunhard responded: “I think that’s an outrageous thing to say about our hardworking staff, and I’d really ask you to withdraw.” Cadell refused.

Coalition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said it was “sickening” to hear of another death.

“In this person’s greatest time of need they could not access help,” she said.

“[Wells has] been at the UN, she’s been in New York. She’s been having lavish dinners. She’s been at the Formula 1. She’s been at sporting events. She’s been at the tennis holding up a Comcar for seven hours, costing the Australian taxpayer $1000.

“I think her position is in a questionable state right now.”