Telstra mass outage; AI and human rights with Edward Santow

And just before I get into the conversation that we're gonna have today with Ed Santow about the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence, we're gonna do my shy report, or not so shy report.

A bit of a hot take and information on Telstra and the mass outage that occurred last week.

And I know it doesn't sound sexy, telecommunications, but let me tell you, before you think this doesn't apply to you, maybe you're on Vodafone or Optus, it really does.

Because this is how our country runs these days.

Last week's outage caused mass havoc across the country.

Millions of phones ran dead, hundreds of trains canceled, morning coffee orders scrapped because people couldn't even pay with their mobile phone or even use their EFTPOS machines, and the most serious of all, hundreds of Triple Zero calls went unanswered.

Now, how can a system we rely on for so many things in our daily lives be so vulnerable to collapse? I reckon many of you listening right now would be shocked to know that the mobile phone industry operates basically unregulated.

For example, there's no laws [laughs] that your mobile phone company needs to meet to ensure that your phone actually has coverage and works.

So you pay your bill each month to Telstra, to Optus, to Vodafone, and they don't even have to deliver you a reliable service.

It can drop out 100 times, and they can just say, "Sorry.

Whoops, bad coverage." So I want this point to really sink in for you.

These companies have no legal requirement to make sure our mobile phone works, and despite Triple Zero being the most essential, essential service, it's run by Telstra, a multimillion-dollar company that's legal obligation is actually to deliver profits to its shareholders, not to deliver a public service, and that's a policy failure, plain and simple.

This is why politics matters.

[laughs] When I hear people say, "Oh, I'm not that interested in politics," well, were you interested in the fact that you couldn't get to work last Wednesday because the trains were dead? Or that you couldn't let the school know that you were running late for school pickup? Or that you couldn't check in and let your mom know that you got home safe? It's a political choice that these companies run for profit and who market themselves as the backbone of modern life currently have no legal standards they have to adhere to.

Now, the, the rumors of why this Telstra outage happened and why the whole service came crashing down last week was because the company had put off upgrading a piece of equipment that would've cost them about 20 grand.

Yeah, a piece of equipment that was due for replacement years ago.

Now, the various investigations will bear this out, but if it is in fact true, [laughs] then it really begs the question, how can a company that banked $2.3 billion in profit last year not keep its equipment up to date and has ended up costing the entire country billions, potentially billions of dollars more because of the massive failure? That's why this week I'll be jumping back on a plane and flying back to Canberra because I've called a Senate inquiry into this Telstra failure.

I'll be chairing this inquiry, and for me, this hearing is about getting to the truth, holding Telstra to account, and making sure that we don't keep accepting a system that leaves Australians vulnerable.

I think we should start considering whether we need to nationalize Triple Zero, built for the public interest, not the business model of the big telcos, who can pick and choose how much they want to invest in their systems.

How is it possible that there's no legal requirement on these companies? This is political.

It's a political choice to force these companies to put their consumers first and public safety first, rather than just their profits.

And just before I get into the conversation that we're gonna have today with Ed Santow about the risks and benefits of artificial intelligence, we're gonna do my shy report, or not so shy report.

A bit of a hot take and information on Telstra and the mass outage that occurred last week.

And I know it doesn't sound sexy, telecommunications, but let me tell you, before you think this doesn't apply to you, maybe you're on Vodafone or Optus, it really does.

Because this is how our country runs these days.

Last week's outage caused mass havoc across the country.

Millions of phones ran dead, hundreds of trains canceled, morning coffee orders scrapped because people couldn't even pay with their mobile phone or even use their EFTPOS machines, and the most serious of all, hundreds of Triple Zero calls went unanswered.

Now, how can a system we rely on for so many things in our daily lives be so vulnerable to collapse? I reckon many of you listening right now would be shocked to know that the mobile phone industry operates basically unregulated.

For example, there's no laws [laughs] that your mobile phone company needs to meet to ensure that your phone actually has coverage and works.

So you pay your bill each month to Telstra, to Optus, to Vodafone, and they don't even have to deliver you a reliable service.

It can drop out 100 times, and they can just say, "Sorry.

Whoops, bad coverage." So I want this point to really sink in for you.

These companies have no legal requirement to make sure our mobile phone works, and despite Triple Zero being the most essential, essential service, it's run by Telstra, a multimillion-dollar company that's legal obligation is actually to deliver profits to its shareholders, not to deliver a public service, and that's a policy failure, plain and simple.

This is why politics matters.

[laughs] When I hear people say, "Oh, I'm not that interested in politics," well, were you interested in the fact that you couldn't get to work last Wednesday because the trains were dead? Or that you couldn't let the school know that you were running late for school pickup? Or that you couldn't check in and let your mom know that you got home safe? It's a political choice that these companies run for profit and who market themselves as the backbone of modern life currently have no legal standards they have to adhere to.

Now, the, the rumors of why this Telstra outage happened and why the whole service came crashing down last week was because the company had put off upgrading a piece of equipment that would've cost them about 20 grand.

Yeah, a piece of equipment that was due for replacement years ago.

Now, the various investigations will bear this out, but if it is in fact true, [laughs] then it really begs the question, how can a company that banked $2.3 billion in profit last year not keep its equipment up to date and has ended up costing the entire country billions, potentially billions of dollars more because of the massive failure? That's why this week I'll be jumping back on a plane and flying back to Canberra because I've called a Senate inquiry into this Telstra failure.

I'll be chairing this inquiry, and for me, this hearing is about getting to the truth, holding Telstra to account, and making sure that we don't keep accepting a system that leaves Australians vulnerable.

I think we should start considering whether we need to nationalize Triple Zero, built for the public interest, not the business model of the big telcos, who can pick and choose how much they want to invest in their systems.

How is it possible that there's no legal requirement on these companies? This is political.

It's a political choice to force these companies to put their consumers first and public safety first, rather than just their profits.