Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

So many things I agree with have been said here, but let's get down to the root of the problem: the industry still does not know what's going on. My industry sources say in the last month Telstra have identified another between 45,000 and 50,000 items that may be affected that they haven't picked up before. These are the things we're seeing going forward. If the industry is still catching up with the effects, how can we?

I have some sympathy for the government and the telcos in that, if you have a 3G phone and you've been texted and messaged and have done nothing and are waiting for the last moment. I actually get that. That's maybe on you a little bit. But we've heard the issue of the 4G phones, the voice over LTE phones. People think they're safe because they have a 4G phone, but they aren't safe; they aren't aware. When we look at all these devices, those that have 3G phones have been communicated to plenty. They've got the chance. The 4G VoLTE and the devices are where we really come. Many of us in the chamber might have a skyview or something like that, and we may contract through third parties, not the original telcos, for the sim cards and the devices that go in them. It's the same with lifts. Who would know who provides the SIM cards for lifts or medical devices? You contract to a third party who has a contract with the telcos. They don't know. They don't know what it is. They buy something that has a SIM card in it, and it works. If I am a customer that has a medical alert and I am not the one who puts the communication device in it, I have no idea what technology is behind it; I don't know if it's 3G, 4G or two tin cans with string between them. All I know is I want it to work when it matters.

There are methods the industry can do at direction of government that will minimise risk. There can be a shutdown where the call aspects of phones other than triple 0 go down a day, week or a period before the entire thing is shut down so that triple 0 calls still work. Let's not forget that this is the industry that gave us the Optus failure day, when triple 0 calls didn't work with Telstra and didn't work with Optus. This is the industry that has failures of networks all the time. This is the industry that, until a month ago, didn't know about the 45,000 other devices that are there. So we can't just rely on industry. I think they have had a very good public campaign on phones, but they aren't the things of concern—it is the ag equipment, the water pumps, the lifesaving equipment that is out there.

If I've sold a medical device and changed the plan, changed the method I communicate with or changed the contracts, am I that engaged with you? You can't text a medical device. I did take the minister's advice just now, and I texted that 3498 number with the number 3. I did that, and it confirms my device. I get that the phone stuff is pretty sorted unless you've got a VoLTE. But you can't do that on a medical alert. You can't do that on a burglar alarm. You can't do that from a tractor. If the industry is still discovering tens of thousands of devices this late in the day, it is not a process that is sound and it is not a process that should be turned off.

While the government are taking note and looking at the final response to the report—they've noted all the issues in the interim report—I would ask that they look at this more openly, more opaquely, with this industry group. Talk about processes, talk about methods, talk about ways that we can minimise risk. There will never be no risk; I accept that. With all the best efforts in the world, there will never be no risk, but if we do a staged shutdown of voice calls, of data, of triple 0 calls in that order, people will react. If I have a phone and I'm dialling and it doesn't dial out, I have an idea that I've got to change it. But if I need to make a triple 0 call—I don't want to find it out that way. This is the way: a more staged, more thorough and more managed plan with onus on government directing this to happen, so that if carriers do not comply there is real consequence. That is the way forward.

My colleague Senator Canavan chaired this inquiry and uncovered stuff every day. As I said, there is more stuff coming out as we go forward. It is unknown, it is unsafe and it needs to be slowed down.