What was debated in Parliament
Summarised using AI from the official Hansard transcript of the debate only. It is not a record of the debate and may leave things out. Read the Hansard below to check it.
This bill puts the Triple Zero Custodian into law and gives the communications regulator, ACMA, power to demand information from phone companies and direct them to act, with civil penalties if they do not comply. It followed the September 2025 Optus outage, when hundreds of triple 0 calls failed and lives were lost. All sides supported the bill, but the debate centred on whether it went far enough, with arguments over penalties, public reporting and an independent inquiry; in the Senate the Government accepted a Greens amendment to triple the penalties.
Arguments made in support
The Government said the custodian will give one body end-to-end oversight of triple 0, as the Bean review recommended after the 2023 outage.
Government members said ACMA's new powers let it get outage details quickly and order fixes, backed by civil penalties.
Government senators said the bill was urgent and should not be delayed by inquiries or lengthy amendments before disaster season.
Government members pointed to new rules from 1 November requiring real-time outage reporting and triple 0 testing during upgrades.
Independent Helen Haines and Greens senators supported the bill as a needed step while saying more action was required.
Arguments made against, or for changes
Coalition speakers said the bill was rushed, adds bureaucracy, and came 18 months after the Bean review was accepted.
The Coalition said ACMA should not investigate the outage because it was part of the failed response, and called for an independent inquiry.
The Coalition moved amendments for higher penalties, a public outage register, more frequent published reports and critical infrastructure status; these were not agreed to.
The Greens said phone company fines were too small and pushed for much higher and criminal penalties; a tripling of penalties was accepted.
Nationals member Anne Webster and Helen Haines said regional Australians face extra risks, calling for regional reporting, disaster roaming and longer tower backup power.
86 speeches by 25 members in the House and Senate over 4 sitting days.
Hansard: House of Representatives, 7 Oct 2025 ›
The official Hansard (PDF), Parliament of Australia
Hansard: House of Representatives, 8 Oct 2025 ›
The official Hansard (PDF), Parliament of Australia
Hansard: Senate, 27 Oct 2025 ›
The official Hansard (PDF), Parliament of Australia
Hansard: Senate, 28 Oct 2025 ›
The official Hansard (PDF), Parliament of Australia
Australia's Voice
1 Yes
0 No
The last column counts members who did not vote. Party counts are for current members.
5 votes were cast by people who have since left Parliament.
Every party member who voted went with the majority of their party.