ANOTHER DEATH LINKED TO TRIPLE ZERO CRISIS

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 9/12/2025

Another person has died as part of the ongoing Triple Zero crisis, TPG Telecom has admitted to the Senate today

The incident, which occurred in the Blue Mountains, occurred because the individual was using an outdated Samsung phone that has been unable to access 000 calls due to a software error.

This is the second time in three months that TPG has admitted that someone has died trying to access Triple Zero from their network.

The ongoing crisis has resulted in the deaths of several people who tried to access Triple Zero, and shows the pitfalls of privatisation. Triple Zero is handled under a public-private partnership across most of the country, and, since the Labor and Liberal governments of the 1990s' privatisation, all telecommunications providers have been privately owned.

Many older phones are no longer able to access Triple Zero, after the 3G network was switched off in late 2024 by the three operators - Telstra, Optus, and TPG Telecom, all of which being private operators.