2 days ago
Optus identifies seven more people unable to call triple zero during outage
Optus has identified another seven people who could not contact triple zero on Thursday during the outage, four of whom have not yet responded to a welfare check.
In an update this afternoon, the Optus CEO, Stephen Rue, said after reviewing call logs, the company had identified the additional seven customers who could not get through to emergency services on Thursday.
Rue said:
Our investigations have revealed there was a period from 12.17am to 12.30am, as the upgrade was being readied for deployment, during which the ability of these customers to get through to emergency services was affected.
We have completed welfare checks and can confirm that three of the households have confirmed they require no further assistance.
Two customers have been referred to SA Police and two to WA Police as we have been unable to make contact. This is in line with standard welfare check protocol.
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Meta to use AI to detect under-18s in Australia
Josh Taylor
From today, Meta will begin testing AI in Australia on teens on Instagram suspected of being under 18, but have their account age listed as being over 18.
The Facebook and Instagram parent company has been testing the tech in the US since April, but as of today it is being expanded.
If an account is suspected of being under 18, it’ll be pushed into the teens account settings, which will restrict the types of content the user sees.
Meta found that when it was tested in the US, 9 out of every 10 teen accounts on Instagram remained in teens account mode.
It’s not difficult to see Meta could seek to apply this AI detection technology to the social media ban from December when those accounts under 16 will need to be deactivated, and teens prevented from re-registering.
But Meta’s regional policy director, Mia Garlick, said in a statement that Meta continues to hold the view that it would be better if a teen’s age was something checked on the device level, rather than social media platforms.
She said:
We’d like to see App Stores, such as the Apple App Store or Google Play, give parents the ability to verify their teens’ age directly at the point of download, which could then send a signal to apps like Instagram regarding a person’s age range.
Ella Archibald-Binge
Kumanjayi White’s funeral was held in Yuendumu on Friday. The NT police executive director Leanne Liddle said police, at the request of the family, had visited the community in the days after the funeral and “they’ve been fully briefed and informed”.
White’s mother filed papers in July to sue the NT government in the federal court, claiming that the officers involved had committed assault, battery and false imprisonment.
The acting NT police commissioner, Martin Dole, said both officers were still on duty in administrative roles.
The death in custody came weeks before the NT coroner was due to hand down the findings of a long-running coronial inquest into the fatal police shooting of Kumanjayi Walker – White’s cousin who had grown up with him in the remote desert community of Yuendumu.
Nationwide protests and vigils called for an independent investigation into the death, but NT police said no other agency was qualified to conduct such an investigation.
Ella Archibald-Binge
More on Kumanjayi White developments
As we noted earlier, the Northern Territory Director of Public Prosecutions will decide whether to lay charges over the death of Kumanjayi White, a Warlpiri man with disability who died after being restrained by police in an Alice Springs supermarket in May.
The final autopsy report and brief of evidence has been handed to the DPP, police told reporters in Darwin on Monday.
White, 24, died on 27 May during a confrontation with police in the confectionery aisle of a Coles supermarket. He was living in supported accommodation away from his community of Yuendumu at the time.
Police alleged White was shoplifting and said plainclothes officers had stepped in after an altercation with a security guard.
White’s family have criticised NT police for failing to update them on the criminal investigation and refusing to release CCTV and body-worn video footage of the incident.
The acting NT police commissioner, Martin Dole, said it was not “unusual” for these processes to take a long time to allow a thorough investigation to take place:
In this circumstance, we were waiting for independent medical advice. That’s now been received.
Josh Taylor
Social media platforms have ‘obligation’ to protect under-16s from inappropriate content, Labor says
The federal government has responded to our story today on the types of content under-16s teens could end up seeing when they’re locked out of having accounts and view TikTok and YouTube logged out.
Our experiment showed the Shorts and TikTok algorithms could quickly send users down a rabbit hole of often far-right and violent content, for those who are not logged in and have less control over the type of content they can see.
A spokesperson for the Albanese government said the platforms “have an obligation to ensure young Australians are not exposed to harmful or age-inappropriate content”.
The spokesperson said:
We’ll continue to work closely with industry as we progress our significant online safety reforms, including implementing the social media minimum age and a digital duty of care.
Benita Kolovos
Victoria education minister accepts VCAA recommendations
Victoria’s education minister, Ben Carroll, has wrapped up a press conference following his release of a review into the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA).
He told reporters he would be accepting all 11 recommendations of the review, sparked by the state’s VCE “cheat sheet” bungle last year. Carroll went on:
We know everyone was let down, and the additional stress that was placed on them last year was unacceptable. What I can say is, we’ve been very transparent. We have done a root and branch review by Dr Blacher, a two stage report that’s been released …
We did reconstitute the board. The board has a new matrix of capability, led by the secretary of the department of education. But you can have all the strategies in place. If you don’t have the culture right, then you’re not getting out of the starting blocks, and that is why … changing the culture of the VCAA is so critically important.
Carroll says the recommendation follows eight accepted in April, which were focused on safeguarding the 2025 VCE exams, which are on track:
We are more advanced this year than we’ve been in many years at the VCAA in terms of the exam preparation, all 75 I think it is, are written and ready to be sent out. So we have every confidence in this year’s examinations, and we have left no stone unturned.
Josh Butler
Hanson-Young says PM must use trip to UN to secure COP summit
Sarah Hanson-Young said PM Anthony Albanese must use his trip to the United Nations to secure the COP climate conference for Australia, and it would be a “fail” if he didn’t do so.
The prime minister must bring home the COP. This climate conference is important for Australia. It’s important for our Pacific neighbors. It’s important for the planet, and Australia shouldn’t be cowering and letting Turkiye win this battle.
Australia and Turkiye are both still vying to host the next conference, but the process is decided by consensus, and if the nations can’t agree for one of them to host, then the venue will default to Bonn, Germany.
Hanson-Young is from Adelaide, the city which would host if Australia won the bid. She said Australia should do more diplomacy to win hosting rights.
I’ve been worried for the last few months that we haven’t seen enough diplomatic muscle flexed in order for Australia to win the bid, and we now need the prime minister to turn on the charm, to flex that diplomatic muscle, and to bring the COP home.
If the prime minister doesn’t bring COP home, I think that’ll be a fail.
Nick Visser
That’s all from me. The great Stephanie Convery will be your guide for the rest of Monday. Take care!
Josh Butler
Sarah Hanson-Young says Optus should face large fines and CEO ‘should go’
Optus should face large fines after its triple-zero outage and CEO Stephen Rue “should go”, according to Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
She called on the government to implement “immediate independent oversight of Optus”, saying communications minister Anika Wells shouldn’t be waiting for the outcome of another review before taking strong action. Hanson-Young told a press conference in Canberra:
She has the power to do this as the minister. Optus, under the carrier licence conditions, they’ve clearly breached them … How many more strikes does this company need?
The failure from Optus has been deadly, and I don’t think we should be waiting for another review before we do what we know needs to be done. The minister should use her powers today, put in place independent oversight of Optus, get the cabinet to approve it and start making sure we regulate this company and this industry properly.
The Greens communications spokesperson said the previous $12m fine on Optus for a similar breach in 2023 was not enough, saying penalties should be substantially higher. Asked about Rue’s position, Hanson-Young said: “I think the CEO should go.”
My concern is, though, clearly the last CEO didn’t avoid and didn’t manage the last Optus outage. We know that this one hasn’t done much better. So it’s not just a problem with the CEO. There’s a problem with the culture of this company. They put profits ahead of people.
NT police give brief of evidence in Kumanjayi White case to DPP
Going back to the press conference on Kumanjayi White’s death earlier:
NT police acting commissioner Martin Dole said the department has compiled a “full and comprehensive brief of evidence” after an autopsy that has now been provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which will then determine how to proceed.
Dole said:
It is the Director of Public Prosecutions that will now determine whether criminal charges will be laid against any officer or officers involved. The coronial process remains ongoing.
Two people taken to hospital after chemical leak in Brisbane CBD
Two people were transported to the hospital in stable condition after a chemical leak in a building in Brisbane’s CBD this morning.
Queensland Ambulance Service said in a statement paramedics responded to reports of the leak at around 11.15am local time at a building on Brisbane’s Mary Street. Two people were taken to St Andrew’s hospital, and two others were assessed on scene but did not require further treatment.
RBA 'getting closer' to being able to declare inflation mission accomplished
Patrick Commins
The RBA is “getting closer” to being able to declare mission accomplished in its fight to bring inflation back under control, the bank’s governor, Michele Bullock, says.
Bullock said the RBA’s forecasts are looking good: inflation is trending back to the midpoint of the 2-3% target range, and without a big rise in unemployment in prospect:
We can’t see … that there is gonna be a sharp deterioration in the labour market.
The unemployment rate is 4.2%, and has been in the low fours for about 18 months. There was a drop in employment in the most recent monthly figures, but Bullock played down monthly swings in the figures.
Job vacancy numbers suggested there was still some corners of the labour market that looked close to full employment, and “maybe marginally on the tight side”.
The governor in her opening statement said that “there are 1.1 million more Australians in employment than in mid-2022, which is clearly a welcome development for those individuals, their families and the wider Australian economy”.
Delayed rail safety report ‘confronting’, says NSW transport minister
Penry Buckley
The NSW transport minister, John Graham, has been asked about a report into safety on the state’s heavy rail network, which the government is yet to release.
The review, headed by transport industry expert Kerry Schott, was commissioned after a high-voltage fell on the top of a train at Homebush in May, trapping 300 passengers and causing massive commuter disruption.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said last week the draft report was “sobering reading” and there were “comprehensive changes needed” on the network. Graham agrees that the report is “confronting”:
I agree with the premier’s assessment … We’ll have more to say on that in the near future, but it’s clear that we have to invest in the reliability of our rail system. The government has got the message there. We understand the impact this has on people as they move around the city, going about their everyday lives.
Graham does not say if the report calls for a significant additional spend on maintenance, but says the government remains committed to releasing it publicly.
Penry Buckley
No additional staff to enforce converted ebike ban on NSW trains
Between overhead announcements at Martin Place station, the NSW transport minister, John Graham, has laid more details of a ban on converted ebikes on train and metro services in a bid to reduce the risk from lithium-ion battery fires, as we reported earlier.
Penalties will not be effective until 1 November, although Transport for NSW is asking passengers to make the change immediately.
For now, no additional staff will be employed to enforce the change, although transport staff and police officers who work on the rail network will be given additional training to identify ebike conversion kits, which can cost as little as $50. Graham says:
We believe this will be enforceable across the network … We won’t be adding staff, but this will involve major training.
Benita Kolovos
VCAA review suggests reducing subjects on offer
The VCAA review also suggests reducing the amount of subjects on offer for students, noting 36 have enrolments of 100 students or less and 21 have enrolments of 20 students or less, with nine languages having fewer than 10 students last year.
Many of the challenges in the VCAA can, in part, be traced back to the complexity of managing such a large range and number of subjects, all requiring a significant base workload. A subject with fewer than 100 students enrolled is subject to the same examination development process as one with tens of thousands of students.
Benita Kolovos
More from the VCAA review in Victoria
The review heard from 180 people, including current and former staff. It said it heard “consistent feedback” that the VCAA “operates under a culture of blame and, sometimes, tolerance for poor behaviour.”
It reads:
Concerningly, in a small number of units, there also appears to be a culture of fear. Staff in these areas are concerned not only about being blamed but about being the subject of sustained criticism or the target of retribution.
The behaviours that have become normalised in these areas include a willingness to engage unprofessionally in disagreements, a tendency to critique others and a lack of respect for colleagues.
Several staff told the review that the VCAA leadership “walk past poor behaviours and tolerate them”.
But it warned culture change would be “extremely challenging” if staff failed to show up to the office, which it found had “very low occupancy”. It said the VCAA would need to “need an agreed standard of working in the office that aligns with general government policy”, which is three days a week.
The report makes 11 recommendations, which it said will take up to three years to implement. They include improving technology, establishing a sustainable budget, a progressive “spill-and-fill of senior roles”, a redesign of operating policies and processes and keeping the independent monitor appointed last year in place for at least another 12 months.
Liddle said investigations behind such deaths “take a long time”, but said the long wait was necessary.
She said:
People have said that this process has taken too long.
But we’ve had to wait this period of time to get the brief together and the information together before we move forward. And it’s difficult for people to understand the depth of the briefs that need to be provided.
