Timeline revealed: 22 hours before Optus told anyone about ‘minor’ outage that turned deadly

WA Police have revealed the full extent of the deadly delay in Optus failing to notify emergency services about a triple-0 outage, with the issue initially downplayed before the agency learnt the true extent of the incident at the same time as the media.

Two deaths in Perth, men aged 74 and 49, and one in South Australia, a woman aged 68, have been linked to the debacle that left 600 calls for emergency help unanswered.

On Sunday, it was confirmed the outage occurred from 10:40pm on Wednesday night Perth time, but WA Police was not notified until 22 hours later and said the telco initially downplayed the problem.

“The information that the WA Police Force received was that it was a minor outage, that services had been fully restored and that there was 26 calls for the WA Police Force to check,” Commander Jodie Pearson said.

“Our immediate concern was those 26 persons that were trying to call triple-0 and we immediately implemented those welfare check protocols.”

It was only the next day, at 2:47pm on Friday that police were told of another 123 WA calls that failed to connect, at the same time as Optus issued a public alert.

It was only through subsequent checks that police discovered the second WA death.

“The WA Police Force received an email highlighting that the scale had increased, that there were those additional welfare checks to be conducted,” Cdr Pearson said.

“That happened simultaneously to that notification going out to government and to the media.”

Cdr Pearson said: “Our heartfelt sympathy does go out to those families. Losing somebody in any circumstance is obviously tragic. We will be speaking to the families as part of the coronial investigation.”

All remaining welfare checks have now been complete, with 147 other callers in WA confirmed safe, though Cdr Pearson couldn’t guarantee that there were no other adverse outcomes.

She said outages should be reported to emergency services “when the outage is occurring”, so the public can be warned to use an alternative carrier.

Acting Premier Rita Saffioti branded the delay a “terrible” failure by the telco.

“It’s clear there were protocols that were meant to be put in place by Optus that were not put in place,” she said on Sunday.

“I was shocked to find out exactly the extent of that failure. These things should not happen and my sincere condolences go out to the two families.”

Ms Saffioti noted that the previous chief executive resigned in 2023, after another technical failure that resulted in a $12 million fine.

She stopped short of calling for current chief executive Stephen Rue’s resignation today, but Federal Minister Matt Keogh implied that public opinion should weigh heavily on his future.

“Once bitten twice shy, this has happened again,” he said.

“What customers decide to do will probably also have an impact on how the board decides to review this . . . certainly, I’d very much understand if customers decided to go elsewhere.”

The State Government baulked, though, at fresh Opposition calls for Optus to be stripped of naming rights, as Optus Stadium prepared to host the WAFL grand final on Sunday.

The 10-year deal worth an estimated $50 million is due to run out in 2027.

Ms Saffioti, who is also Sport and Recreation Minister, did not rule the drastic move in or out.

“It’s not a focus at the moment,” she said.

“Our focus is really understanding what transpired.”