Taylor defends Sarah Henderson’s triple-zero calls amid questions about claimed Telstra-outage death in SA | Telstra

Angus Taylor said shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson was “doing her job” as she “tested” the triple zero system by making unnecessary calls during Telstra’s nationwide outage.

The opposition leader also dismissed concerns about Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle’s claim that an elderly person had died as a result of the outage, after South Australian police said they were unaware of any such death.

The effects of Wednesday’s outage continued, with Telstra confirming on Thursday morning that some customers were struggling to make triple zero calls due to a “secondary issue”. Telstra said the occurrence of the secondary triple zero issue has been reduced by 90%.

After ministers including Tim Ayres criticized Henderson’s actions as “completely irresponsible”, Taylor accused the government of not doing its job and focusing on “political spin”.

Criminal penalties could be imposed on people who call triple zero when it is not an emergency, but Henderson said he was trying to figure out whether the system was working and his role put him in a “unique position.”

Taylor answered questions about Henderson’s decision to call triple zero multiple times on Wednesday and stood by his actions at a combative press conference on Thursday.

“This government focuses all its time and effort on political spin and devotes none of its time and effort to the real problems facing Australians,” the Liberal leader said.

“So the shadow minister had to do what he had to do because of the minister’s failure – not for the first time, but for the second time.

“I told Sarah [Henderson] “He had to do his job and he was doing his job and that’s exactly what I’m going to keep saying.”

Questions have also been raised about Liddle’s claim in a social media post that a South Australian had died as a result of the cut, which was not confirmed by state police.

Taylor said he had not spoken to the South Australian senator but ignored any criticism of the post.

“Sad reports were made to his office and … this is what he reported,” he said.

Liddle’s post, which remained online Thursday afternoon, claimed an elderly person was unable to connect to triple zero during a “life-or-death emergency” and died as a result.

“No Australian should be able to commit to triple zero when their life depends on it,” Liddle wrote.

Guardian Australia contacted Liddle’s office several times but received no response.

“South Australian Police are not aware of any deaths in South Australia today as a result of Telstra’s nationwide outage,” police said on social media in response to the claim.

Welfare checks are being carried out on people who fail to reach triple zero, communications minister Anika Wells said on Wednesday.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority will investigate the incident.