Telstra outage as it happened: Henderson 'not going to apologise' for test calls to Triple Zero as CFO says service now restored

The Queensland Police Service has said it has received information that 17 people who attempted to call Triple Zero during the outage were not connected as at 5:50pm AEST.

"All failed calls are being identified through the telecommunications provider, and this information is being passed onto Policelink, who will conduct welfare checks to ensure everyone's safety and wellbeing.

"The Queensland Triple Zero service remains operational, and people who are experiencing an emergency should continue to call Triple Zero.

"Impacted customers should check with their provider about what the outage means for them."

Commenter Kat has a question about train services in Victoria.

Kat: Hello! Has there been any updates at all on the V-Line situation? I'm meant to be travelling tomorrow and need to make plans (as I'm sure many others do!)

Thanks Kat! Yes, but I'm afraid it's not great news. Our Victorian team advises:

Late this afternoon, V/Line posted on its website that services continue to be impacted following the national Telstra outage.

"This includes all services tonight and tomorrow morning," it said.

"Passengers are advised to defer travel where possible."

The Northern Territory Police has confirmed all five welfare checks advised by Telstra has been done.

"NT Police contacted all affected callers, with no outstanding welfare or emergency concerns identified," the police said.

More on Carol Bennett, the CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN).

When asked what financial penalty Telstra should receive, Ms Bennett says it should be very "significant".

"It's been very significant on the consumer and individual level," she told ABC News.

"We've heard from people who couldn't get to work, who couldn't get their kids to school, who couldn't access health services, banking services, you know, this has had a whole-of-economy impact.

"It is not a minor outage - this is a huge national issue, and we need to treat it that way.

"And I think there does need to be significant penalties when businesses fail like this, particularly when they're the custodians of Australian safety."

Carol Bennett, the CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), says not only does Telstra acknowledge the impact of the outage on people, but it also needs to make changes now.

"This is a system issue that is within Telstra's control," Ms Bennett told the ABC News channel.

"What we want to see is reliability standards that will ensure that there are incentives in the system to ensure that these sorts of failures can't happen, and that there are serious consequences for outages like this because they have a real-world impact on Australians and the economy."

When asked whether it appears that lessons have been learnt, Ms Bennett said they would unless there was an impact on those who are delivering these systems.

"At the moment, what we're seeing is that we put a lot of reliance on the big telcos to provide and deliver services that protect Australians and ensure their safety.

"And quite clearly we can't rely on that when it comes to some of these systems, and particularly 000.

"We need systems in place like reliability standards that hold the telcos to account."

More to come.

NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner Brent Armitage has said the emergency service became aware of a reported outage impacting Telstra network customers on Wednesday morning.

However, he says NSW Ambulance continues to receive and process Triple Zero calls and has a range of contingency plans in place, including dual-carrier SIM cards, radio systems and satellite phones.

"It is critical that anyone can call Triple Zero (000) in their time of need, wherever they are in NSW.

"NSW Ambulance urges anyone experiencing a medical emergency to call Triple Zero.

"NSW Ambulance will continue to monitor the situation and will review any potentially impacted calls as required."

Meanwhile, NSW Police has confirmed it received 13 requests for welfare checks to date, with four of these to be completed.

The police say no adverse outcomes have been identified at this time arising out of the welfare checks.

"However, we understand further requests may be forthcoming from Telstra. Inquiries are continuing," the police added.

Telstra CFO Michael Ackland is asked about union questions regarding whether recent changes to staffing affected the outage.

"We take network resilience very seriously, I think the workforce issues are separate," he says.

"When you have an incident like this, you step back and learn.

"I have nothing that suggests changes in staffing or expertise has led to this."

Ackland says Telstra CEO Vicki Brady will be back before the end of the week.

"We let customers down today, we apologise," he said.

"We take this very seriously, people can trust us.

"All our processes, welfare, camp-on, worked but there is no doubt we created a level of anxiety that is not acceptable." 

Telstra CFO Michael Ackland says Telstra identified more than 300 calls to Triple Zero.

Of those calls, there were 79 people they couldn't get hold of, so notified police, who were doing physical checks and six people who needed assistance, which Telstra "addressed immediately".

"The volume was higher than expected," Mr Ackland said, adding that he expects the numbers were inflated due to people testing Triple Zero and the back-up system worked as it should have.

Telstra CFO Michael Ackland says the outage was caused by a software defect.

"This was not the result of a cyber incident," he said.

Mr Ackland says customers should be 'extra vigilant' regarding scammers and phishing.

His advice to customers if they get calls from people saying they are Telstra and asking for details is to "hang up" and call Telstra back.

Telstra CFO Michael Ackland is providing an update on the outage.

"We've worked to restore all remaining services, as of 4pm all our services are fully resolved," he said.

A crippling statewide cancellation of Victoria's regional trains, linked to a Telstra outage, is likely to continue disrupting services into tomorrow morning.

Late this afternoon, V/Line posted on its website that services continue to be impacted following the national Telstra outage.

"This includes all services tonight and tomorrow morning," it said.

"Passengers are advised to defer travel where possible."

Labor MP Josh Burns has said it's too early to speculate whether any reforms are needed before having a clear picture from Telstra about what exactly happened regarding the nationwide outage.

"Australians have been affected by it," Mr Burns told the ABC Afternoon Briefing.

"Let's get to the facts of this before we start speculating and I think first and foremost, those people who potentially tried to get on to Triple Zero are safe and are being looked after."

Mr Burns has reiterated that there were serious questions for Telstra to answer and safeguards were needed.

"What is really important here is that Telstra fronts up, they provide the answers to exactly what has happened here and explain what has been done.

"There needs to be safeguards, especially when it comes to Triple Zero."

He also urged people not to test-call Triple Zero, as it can clog the network used by people who really need it.

We've just heard that Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland will provide a media update at 5.15pm AEST.

Please stay with us while we bring you the latest info!

 On ABC's Afternoon Briefing Liberal senator Sarah Henderson says she was the only person in her office to call Triple Zero.

"I'm the Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety, my job is to hold the government to account, and the telecommunications carriers to account," she said.

"And that is what I am doing.

"Today, in [Communications Minister] Anika Wells's press conference, she really downplayed the number of people who could not connect.

"We still have no information about whether anyone who could not connect to Triple Zero was impacted.

"Australians deserve full information, and I am not going to apologise for doing my job."

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson is facing a grilling from Afternoon Briefing's Patricia Karvelas on why she called Triple Zero, when Telstra asked people to only call in an emergency.

"The law relates to those who make vexatious and hoax calls," Henderson says.

"I was concerned about the wellbeing of Australians ...

"For anyone to suggest that this was some breach of the law because I was making a vexatious or hoax call is just ridiculous ...

"The criminal code provides that someone – commits an offence if they call Triple Zero where they're making or intending to make hoax call, or where they are doing in a vexatious way."

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson has defended her actions in calling Triple Zero this morning in an interview with Afternoon Briefing's Patricia Karvelas.

Karvelas asks if Henderson will apologise for making the calls, noting that prank calls on Triple Zero are a criminal offence.

"Let me just say that's an outrageous claim," she said.

"The law relates to those who make hoax calls or vexatious calls.

"I, like many Australians, have very little trust in our telecommunications networks and also the ability of the Albanese government to manage our Triple Zero network.

"As the Shadow Minister for Communications, responsible for this portfolio, I made those calls and discovered that I could not connect to Triple Zero. I then alerted a senior Telstra representative."

Shadow Communications Minister Sarah Henderson is about to appear on ABC's Afternoon Briefing with Patricia Karvelas.

Earlier, Senator Henderson told Sky News that she had made several "test calls" to Triple Zero. Prank calls to Triple Zero are a criminal offence that carries a maximum penalty of three years' jail.

Both Communications Minister Anika Wells and Emergency Services Minister Kristy McBain criticised Senator Henderson's actions.

Some of our commenters say they are still experiencing difficulties:

Barbara: The Telstra internet connection allows me to use my solar panels and batteries efficiently; it seems the outage will not be restored until 10am 9 July.

I have to be here to reconnect.

Unfortunately outages have become a fairly regular event. And I'm not always here to rectify it. I don't want to change to star link but it seems they are reliable.

Matthew: Missed call notification from 1200hrs test not received until 1442hrs.

test call from Vodafone network to a Telstra service at 3:07 did not ring and was routed to voicemail.

The Telstra issue is still ongoing

Stephanie: I have a Telstra pre-paid service that needed to be recharged today, and I cannot do it via the MyTelstra app, the website, over the phone — nothing. I am in QLD and this has been an issue since 6am, and it is now nearly 3pm. NOTHING is working.

You cannot build a world that is reliant on everybody having a mobile phone, and then make an unreliable system that supports it. Not acceptable from the biggest telco in the country.

Thanks so much for letting us know what's been happening for you - and I can only say I genuinely hope all your difficulties are resolved soon!

We've heard from Telstra regarding the latest update on their services.

Here's what they say:

"We continue to make good progress restoring services.

"If you are still experiencing issues, we recommend restarting your phone rather than just switching on airplane mode.

"We will share another update once all services are back online. Potential impact: over 100,000.

"We'll update you before 08/07/2026, 10:00 pm."