{"id":786732,"date":"2026-07-08T10:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786732\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T10:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T10:27:13","slug":"anika-wells-ridicules-angus-taylor-and-barnaby-joyce-for-linking-telstra-outage-with-china-telstra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/786732\/","title":{"rendered":"Anika Wells ridicules Angus Taylor and Barnaby Joyce for linking Telstra outage with China | Telstra"},"content":{"rendered":"

The communications minister, Anika Wells, has accused Barnaby Joyce and Angus Taylor of \u201cgoing off half-cocked\u201d by raising without evidence the prospect of China having been behind the major Telstra outage<\/a> affecting millions of Australians nationwide.<\/p>\n

The federal emergency management minister, Kristy McBain, also criticised the shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, after the Liberal senator said she had \u201ctested\u201d the triple-zero system by making unnecessary calls to the emergency line \u2013 which carries a criminal penalty.<\/p>\n

Henderson rejected suggestions she had breached the law, which she claimed was about \u201choax\u201d calls, but McBain said \u201cthe last thing we need is anyone making test calls to triple zero\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe teach our kids not to prank call triple zero, and I think it is absolutely outrageous that the shadow communications minister has been making test calls to triple zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Telstra blamed an issue with a time-keeping server<\/a> for a major outage where thousands of mobile customers were unable to make calls or access data. The telco, which powers about 25m mobile services nationwide, confirmed the outage on Wednesday, with 90% of services restored after 10am AEST, but the outage also affected some triple-zero calls, and services that relied on mobile internet coverage such as train networks and electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, Telstra\u2019s CFO, Michael Ackland, said the network issues had been fully resolved and were not the result of a cyber incident.<\/p>\n

\"WelfareWelfare checks in progress after major Telstra outage hits mobiles and triple-zero calls \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Wells, who had been on leave, returned to work to respond to the crisis. She revealed the federal Triple Zero Custodian \u2013 set up after the 2025 Optus outage which saw multiple deaths when callers couldn\u2019t reach emergency services \u2013 had advised Telstra the outage meant some callers were unable to connect.<\/p>\n

Wells said welfare checks were being conducted on people who had been unable to reach triple zero, and that they would demand an explanation from Telstra about the outage. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will review the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll telcos, including Telstra, have strict requirements in relation to welfare checks for disconnected triple zero calls, and the Triple Zero Custodian is in regular communication with Telstra to receive updates on the progress and outcomes of these checks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Henderson demanded the government direct Acma to report on the outage within seven days, instead of undertaking a long-running inquiry, in order to enact interim measures to avoid future outages and obtain immediate answers. The Liberal senator also called for bolstered mandatory standards and \u201cappropriate penalties\u201d for telco providers.<\/p>\n

Wells would not comment on whether Telstra should pay compensation to customers, but said the company must \u201cmake things right\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTelcos are the least-trusted industry in our country as we stand today, and days like today demonstrate exactly why Australians feel that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a press conference on Wednesday morning Taylor questioned whether there was a connection to the Chinese missile test in the Pacific this week<\/a>. Telstra, Anthony Albanese and Wells have all said they have no such evidence of malicious activity, but the opposition leader claimed it was among the \u201cmany questions Australians are asking\u201d, despite offering no evidence to support the claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw a provocative and unwelcome missile launch from the PLA yesterday, and I can understand why Australians are drawing that connection. Now, I don\u2019t know whether there\u2019s any connection or not, I have no idea. But it\u2019s no wonder Australians are starting to ask questions like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Joyce also raised similar questions without evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be paranoid or a conspiracy theorist, but we know there is the capacity for China to affect that sort of software and that sort of network,\u201d the One Nation MP told Sky News.<\/p>\n

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Wells would not say whether agencies like the Australian Signals Directorate were investigating, but said she\u2019d spoken with home affairs minister Tony Burke \u2013 who has carriage of intelligence agencies \u2013 and was \u201creassured by his answers\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of today, there is no current evidence to suggest that is the case, apart from two parliamentarians going half-cocked,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Asked about Joyce\u2019s comments specifically, Wells responded: \u201cAs a general principle, I think when it comes to matters of national security, you shouldn\u2019t make stuff up \u2026 I think it\u2019s irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henderson told Sky she had \u201ctested it myself\u201d by calling triple zero during the outage. She added that Telstra had advised customers not to test the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a couple of failed calls this morning because, obviously, I needed to know if triple zero was working and that appears to be rectified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henderson later pushed back on McBain\u2019s criticism of her actions in a statement, saying: \u201cIt is my job to hold the government and the telecommunications carriers to account on critical services such as the operation of the triple-zero network.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI called triple zero twice initially, and when these calls did not connect, I immediately notified a senior Telstra representative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not going to apologise for doing my job and it is time Anika Wells focused on doing her job a lot better than she is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an ABC TV interview, Henderson strongly denied that she\u2019d broken any laws by placing test calls, labelling such suggestions \u201cridiculous\u201d. She also said she hadn\u2019t asked any staff to place similar calls.<\/p>\n

Asked about Henderson\u2019s calls, Taylor shrugged off the issue but also encouraged Australians not to use triple zero unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are questions that need to be answered from the government, and they haven\u2019t been answered, and this is why people are trying to understand the situation \u2026 In the absence of answers, we\u2019re going to see all sorts of ideas as to what\u2019s really going on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The communications minister, Anika Wells, has accused Barnaby Joyce and Angus Taylor of \u201cgoing off half-cocked\u201d by raising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-786732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}