Acma not told of Optus triple-zero network issues for more than 10 hours
Nerida O’Loughlin, the Australian Communications Media Authority (Acma) chair, said the body usually gets multiple emails per day from telcos when something goes wrong with their networks. But in the case of the Optus outage, Acma wasn’t “notified at all until the outage was resolved”.
O’Loughlin explained more about the typical timeframes as to how the authority is notified earlier:
I would have to say it is variable, but particularly with the local significant outages, we receive multiple emails per day, usually as soon as the telco is aware that something has gone wrong.
In this case we did not know that something had gone wrong until the matter had been resolved more than 10 hours later.
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Updated at 02.02 CEST
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Man dies after being struck by forklift at Sydney workplace
A man died after a workplace incident in Sydney’s eastern beaches area earlier this morning, police said.
Emergency services were called to a warehouse in the suburb of Matraville around 5.30am after reports the worker was seriously injured. On arrival, officers with NSW police were told the man had been struck by a forklift.
The man, 57, was treated by paramedics, but he died at the scene.
Police have established a crime scene and opened an investigation into the matter.
ShareLuca Ittimani
Sydney has the highest fare evasion rates in Australia. What can it learn from Melbourne and Brisbane?
NSW has the highest rate of fare evasion in Australia. There is about half as much fare dodging in Melbourne as Sydney, while evasion rates have plummeted in Queensland after the rollout of 50c fares, new data shows.
In 2019, NSW’s transport department all but declared victory on fare dodging. But a subsequent surge in fare evasion has punched a hole in the state’s budget, with lost revenue climbing from less than $80m to almost $130m annually.
Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
By 2022, fare dodgers accounted for nearly one in 10 trips across NSW. That figure has remained high as commuters struggle with surging living costs.
Experts say NSW can learn from the experiences of Australia’s other two big public transport networks.
Read more here:
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Acma not told of Optus triple-zero network issues for more than 10 hours
Nerida O’Loughlin, the Australian Communications Media Authority (Acma) chair, said the body usually gets multiple emails per day from telcos when something goes wrong with their networks. But in the case of the Optus outage, Acma wasn’t “notified at all until the outage was resolved”.
O’Loughlin explained more about the typical timeframes as to how the authority is notified earlier:
I would have to say it is variable, but particularly with the local significant outages, we receive multiple emails per day, usually as soon as the telco is aware that something has gone wrong.
In this case we did not know that something had gone wrong until the matter had been resolved more than 10 hours later.
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Updated at 02.02 CEST
Tom McIlroy
Major Jewish human rights group criticises Australia for recognition of Palestinian state
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has hit out at Australia’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, along with the UK, Canada, Portugal and France.
Named for the Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter, the organisation is a global Jewish human rights organisation working to confront antisemitism and hate, and to defend the safety of Israel and Jews worldwide.
The group says recognition of Palestine rewards the 7 October terrorists, responsible for the bloodiest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s director of global social action, said:
If these governments truly cared about humanitarian crises, they would demand the immediate release of every last hostage before Hamas kills them all.
Instead, they have abandoned the innocent men, women and children in Hamas’ brutal hands.
He said diplomatic recognition under the current circumstances is appeasement and won’t bring peace any closer.
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Updated at 01.21 CEST
Wells expressed her ‘unbelievable disappointment’ to Optus CEO
Wells said she had spoken to the Optus CEO, Stephen Rue, to express her deep disappointment after the outage. She said:
You would be unsurprised to hear that I expressed my unbelievable disappointment that we were here again so quickly. Or here again at all.
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Updated at 01.11 CEST
Any penalties would be financial, not criminal
The Australian Communications Media Authority said any penalties would largely be financial if imposed, adding the body could also seek enforceable undertakings from Optus.
O’Loughlin said the law doesn’t have any criminal convictions “available to us”.
She wouldn’t speculate on the size of any potential penalties.
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Lack of emergency call services can be ‘devastating’, Acma chair says
Nerida O’Loughlin, the Australian Communications Media Authority (Acma) chair, said the body did not expect Optus to be here “so soon” after the authority breached Optus for similar matters in 2023. The company was fined $12m last year for that issue.
Triple zero and emergency call services are a fundamental requirement for all telcos. They are there for people at their most vulnerable and they have devastating effects if they are not in place. We have seen that play out over the last few days.
We have started that by alerting Optus to the investigation being under way. We will be seeking significant information from Optus. Telco networks are complex much we will need time to dig into what has exactly happened here.
As the minister said, we will, as the regulator, be holding Optus to account for this second outage over the last couple of years.
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Updated at 02.03 CEST
Optus expected to face ‘significant consequences’
Anika Wells, the minister for communications, said Optus will be held to account after the triple-zero outage.
Wells just said during a press conference she expects the company to face “significant consequences” after the outage, which may be linked to multiple deaths:
Optus and all telecommunications providers have obligations under Australian law to make sure emergency services calls go through. … Optus will be held accountable for this failure. They and all providers have no excuses here.
Anika Wells. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 00.50 CEST
Tom McIlroy
Climate change minister meets with Turkish counterpart over COP 31
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, met with his Turkish counterpart in New York overnight as part of Australia’s efforts to secure hosting rights for the COP 31 climate talks next year.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants his country to host the event, and is blocking Australia’s bid to host in conjunction with Pacific Island countries.
Hosting rights are decided on a consensus system, and if both Turkey and Australia stay in the race, the conference could be held in Bonn, Germany, by default.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, could meet Erdoğan in New York this week to discuss the rival bids.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
“I’ve had a discussion previously already with President Erdogan and with his foreign minister,” Albanese said overnight, adding:
I will advocate in good faith for Australia and the Pacific’s position.
With these things quite clearly, if we’re going to see our way through to a common position, it is highly likely there will be a need to compromise.
Albanese pointed to the United Nations headquarters, and said compromise happens regularly among member states. “It’s called diplomacy,” he said.
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Updated at 00.40 CEST
SA premier says state contacted Optus about outage before company reached out
Peter Malinauskas, the premier of South Australia, said he was bewildered by the lack of communication between Optus and the state government during a triple-zero outage last week that may be linked to multiple deaths.
Malinauskas spoke to RN Breakfast, saying there was “genuine concern” about what led to the outage:
When people call triple-zero in their time of the need, it’s just one of those services you need to work. …
It’s the way you respond to it that often matters so much. And that’s where Optus has been found wanting, to put it mildly. The lack of communication between Optus officials and appropriate government authorities is bewildering.
Peter Malinauskas. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Malinauskas said ambulance services and police both noticed a drop-off in the number of calls before the state contacted Optus, rather than the company telling officials of the outage.
As far as I can tell, it was the South Australian government that alerted Optus to there being a problem, rather than the other way around. …
Now, the duty is on Optus to let authorities know that there’s a problem, if they indeed are aware of one. And it turns out they were, as early as a few hours before that. So that with and of itself raises very serious questions that we expect to be examined through an independent investigation.
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Updated at 00.21 CEST
Converted ebikes will be banned on NSW rail network
The NSW government announced a ban on converted ebikes on the state rail network, saying the risk of lithium-ion battery fires was too great.
Beginning 1 November, the converted ebikes – defined as regular pedal bikes that have been fitted with batteries and motors – will be barred from Sydney Trains, NSW Trainlink and Metro services. Anyone who brings one of the devices onboard could be fined between $400 and $1,110, a comparable offence to bringing a petrol-powered device on a train or railway service.
Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian
The ban does not apply to travel on concourses, lifts, escalators or in storage facilities outside fare gates, and riders passing through community access gates won’t be affected.
Other ebikes, shared ebikes and mobility devices will not be affected, but Transport NSW said it would continue to monitor all incidents involving them “closely”.
John Graham, the NSW minister for transport, said:
The overwhelming message from the consultation was that banning all ebikes from trains would go too far. Taking out the highest risk ebikes is a sensible and balanced step, but we will watch this space very closely and take further action if necessary.
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Updated at 00.16 CEST
Matt Kean says emissions reduction a clear growth opportunity for Australia, ‘not a drag’
Matt Kean, the chair of the Climate Change Authority, said the emissions reduction target set by the government last week would not be a “drag” on the Australian economy, adding the country needed to “get on” with plans to slash emissions and build out renewable energy sources.
Kean spoke with RN Breakfast about the government’s 62% to 70% reduction target over 2005 levels and the need for renewable energy capacity:
We need to get on with it, and we’re going to need everything, everywhere, all at once. We’re going to need batteries, we’re going to need wind, we’re going to need offshore wind, we’re going to need storage … and we’re going to need new transmission lines.
Matt Kean. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Kean was also asked about opposition leader Sussan Ley’s criticism that the targets would be too costly. He rejected that assertion, saying:
The clear and undeniable truth is that against the backdrop of falling emissions that we’ve recommended, 62% to 70%, there is a net benefit to the Australian economy. There is a clear economic growth opportunity here, not a drag for the economy, and we should get on and do it because it’s in our national interest. …
A 62% to 70% fall in emissions is an economic growth opportunity for Australia, not a drag.
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Updated at 23.52 CEST
Tom McIlroy
PM meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan
Anthony Albanese met with King Abdullah II of Jordan in New York overnight, part of a major diplomatic push ahead of the UN general assembly.
The prime minister and the king discussed the Israel-Gaza war and other security issues in the Middle East, hours after Australia formally recognised Palestine as a state.
It’s the start of a big week for Albanese, who announced the recognition move with the foreign minister, Penny Wong, outside the United Nations headquarters in downtown Manhattan.
Australia acted in concert with similar declarations by prime ministers Keir Starmer of the UK and Mark Carney of Canada and ahead of a major conference on the two-state solution, hosted by France and Saudi Arabia. Albanese told the travelling media pack:
Australia is a longstanding supporter of a two-state solution as the only pathway to a secure and prosperous future for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
We recognise the legitimate and long held aspirations of the people of Palestine of a state of their own, and in doing so, we reaffirm Australia’s longstanding position of two-states, the state of Israel and the state of Palestine, living side by side behind internationally recognised borders in peace and security.
Albanese played down concerns that the US could retaliate against Australia for recognising Palestine, a move opposed by the president, Donald Trump.
No meeting between the pair has been confirmed yet this week, but the Australian side remains eager to secure face-to-face talks.
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Updated at 23.46 CEST
Netanyahu warns Australia to ‘stand by’ for response after recognition of Palestinian state
Tom McIlroy
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has lashed Australia’s decision to recognise Palestinian statehood, warning leaders the moves reward terrorism by Hamas.
Anthony Albanese is at the United Nations this week, working alongside the leaders of France, Britain and Canada.
In a statement on Monday morning, Australian time, Netanyahu warned Albanese and other world leaders to “stand by” for his response. He said:
There will be no Palestinian state. The response to the latest attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the United States.
I have a clear message to those leaders who are recognising a Palestinian state after the horrendous 7 October massacre: You are rewarding terror with an enormous prize. And I have another message for you: It’s not going to happen.
Benjamin Netanyahu. Photograph: Nathan Howard/AP
There will be no Palestinian state to the west of the Jordan River.
For years I have prevented the creation of that terror state, against tremendous pressure, both domestic and from abroad.
We have done this with determination and with astute statesmanship. Moreover, we have doubled the Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, and we will continue on this path.
The response to the latest attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land will be given after my return from the United States. Stand by.
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Updated at 23.34 CEST
Good morning
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser here to get the day rolling. Here’s what’s on deck.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has issued a warning after Australia formally recognised a Palestinian state, alongside the UK and Canada. The Israeli leader said Australia should “stand by” for his response, with Netanyahu adding other nations were “rewarding terror with an enormous prize” with the move.
Some ebikes will be banned from Sydney trains, NSW Trainlink and Sydney Metro services from 1 November due to the risk of lithium-ion battery fires, the state’s transport minister announced today. The ban encompasses so-called “converted e-bikes”, classified as pedal bikes that have been fitted with batteries and motors. Other ebikes and mobility devices will not be affected.
We’ll be following any further updates from Optus after the company’s CEO said established processes were not involved when an upgrade to its infrastructure sparked a triple-zero outage that may have cost at least three lives.
And there’s more to come.
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