Melissa McIntosh slams Optus outage after 14,000 customers affected in Melbourne’s southeast

A Liberal MP has lashed Optus after an outage that left 14,000 Australians unable to ring triple-0, saying it is “unacceptable”.

Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh has lashed Optus following a significant outage that left more than 14,000 Optus customers without coverage in Melbourne’s southeast.

“It is absolutely unacceptable triple-0 calls are again being impacted by yet another Optus outage,” the opposition communications spokeswoman said.

“It is sending chills up Australians’ spines this morning.

“Regardless of the fault, Optus has an obligation to provide triple-0 services to Australians anywhere and at any time.”

The ongoing outages “must stop”, Ms McIntosh said, before reiterating her call for a “full and thorough independent inquiry into the triple-0 ecosystem.”

Ms McIntosh has called for a full-scale inquiry into the triple-0 network. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“What else will put Australians at ease unless we find every issue in the system and ensure there is a plan to address every fault,” she said.

Ms McIntosh demanded Labor and the telco watchdog “speak up and take action”, accusing both of being the “last to respond or provide Australians with the information they need and deserve”.

The outage was being closely monitored, a government spokesperson said, with early indications suggesting it could have been caused by vandalism.

“Optus advises it is working to rectify the situation as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.

“Under Australian law, any triple zero calls made by affected customers must fall back onto other carriers’ networks where available.”

Optus investigates

Earlier, Optus confirmed it was probing an outage affecting those in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula areas of Victoria.

About 14,546 services were affected, attributed to what the telco called an “underground fibre break” (earlier described as an “aerial fibre break”).

“Calls to emergency services are impacted by this outage,” the message on the website stated.

“Optus customers will only be able to call emergency services if they are within coverage of another mobile network or are able to call via wi-fi.”

More than 14,000 Optus customers have been rocked by a major outage. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

By lunchtime, the warning on Optus’ website had been updated to state: “Outage affecting services has been resolved.”

Optus has been contacted for further comment.

The new outage comes just a few months after the telco’s disastrous triple-0 outage, which left hundreds unable to make emergency calls when a network disruption turned catastrophic.

The outage has been linked to the deaths of three Australians.

In September – that same month – Optus was hit with a $100m fine for exploiting vulnerable Australians in “predatory” conduct.

The court found between 2019 and 2023, sales were pushed on 400 vulnerable Australians when Optus sold products they did not want or need, or could not use and afford.

The company failed to explain terms and conditions on the contracts for sale in a manner that could be easily understood – which resulted in many failing to understand how their ongoing payment obligations worked.

Originally published as Melissa McIntosh slams Optus outage after 14,000 customers affected in Melbourne’s southeast