Australians must be able to have faith in Triple Zero

July 11, 2026 — 5:00am

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The Triple Zero emergency service is a cornerstone of public safety, connecting callers directly to police, fire and ambulance services. But days after Telstra lost connection, not only once but twice, the telco is struggling to paper over the cracks of a massive failure.

The outage rippled across the nation, interrupting the daily lives of millions: public transport commuters were stranded, people were unable to make phone calls or pay for small businesses purchases, and, most seriously of all, hundreds of calls to Triple Zero failed to connect.

While the outage does not appear to have led to a South Australian woman’s death, as earlier feared, chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal reports that the woman’s family was........

© The Sydney Morning Herald