Second death linked to triple-zero connection failure revealed as explosive inquiry reveals minister was not informed | Australian politics

An inquest heard that Anika Wells’ office was mistakenly told no one had died after failing to connect to the triple zero network in September, and the communications minister and his department were left in the dark about the death for more than 10 weeks.

It was only after Telstra attempted to clarify the situation on Monday night that the view within Wells’ department changed; just hours before a parliamentary inquiry into the triple zero network was due to begin.

The Guardian Australian understands the minister’s office only became fully aware of the development when it emerged at Tuesday’s inquiry hearings.

“It is disturbing to hear about this tragic outcome,” a government spokesperson told Guardian Australia, confirming that the department and the communications regulator were investigating why they were misled.

Hearings at the inquiry revealed serious failures in communication between telecommunications companies and the government following the September 24 incident in Wentworth Falls, New South Wales, which resulted in the death of a man after his old Samsung device failed to connect to the triple zero network.

The number of triple zero-related deaths found to be linked to an incompatible Samsung device has doubled; Another death occurred on November 13.

At the time, TPG disclosed the incident in November in a statement to the ASX.

In evidence at the inquest on Tuesday, Sam Grunhard, a senior communications department official, said Telstra, which operates the emergency call system, contacted the department on September 24 to report a suspicious death.

After Telstra and TPG Telecom confirmed the case was being investigated, Grunhard said Wells notified his chief of staff.

The suspicious death, which occurred just six days after the fatal Optus outage on September 18, was not publicly disclosed by Wells, who was in New York on the trip that sparked the ongoing spending controversy.

Grunhard did not recall whether the chief of staff confirmed to him that he would inform Wells, and it is unclear whether the minister was told.

In a major twist, Grunhard revealed that on September 26, two days after the incident, TPG informed him that “there were no deaths related to the incident.”

The minister’s office and the ministry were operating under the assumption that there had been no deaths until Telstra contacted Grunhard late on Monday “expressing concern that there was a difference of understanding regarding the September 24 incident”.

It is unclear how TPG reached the conclusion that there was no death.

Iñaki Berroeta, the telco’s chief executive, said in testimony at the hearing that TPG was aware of the triple zero call error but did not know it was linked to a death until Telstra notified them before the hearing on Monday.

Asked by TPG why she only learned of his death on Monday, Liberal senator Sarah Henderson replied: “I have no idea, I don’t know.”

Testifying shortly after Berroeta, Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady said the telecommunications company was informed of the death by email from the New South Wales ambulance service on September 24.

The inquest heard Telstra contacted the federal communications department on the day of the incident and passed Australian Communications and Media Authority details to the ambulance service.

He also alerted TPG Telecom, assuming it was aware that the so-called “Wentworth Falls incident” involved a death.

“You made the wrong assumption. You assumed something that was wrong,” Henderson told Telstra executives.

Telstra met with Wells’ office on October 20 – almost a month after the death – to discuss an investigation into problems with Samsung devices.

Asked if the death was brought up at the meeting, Brady said, “It’s not something I can remember.”

The issue of death was also not raised at a separate meeting on October 7, when Wells met with telecommunications bosses following the September 18 Optus outage, which was linked to three deaths.

Telstra’s general counsel Lyndall Stoyles said Telstra had mentioned a “specific incident” at the October 20 meeting but “did not mention the details of the incident”.

“Wasn’t it important that you also mentioned that someone passed away on September 24? I know you advised the ministry, but there is such missing and critical information that this issue was not discussed directly with the minister,” asked Henderson.

In response, Brady said Telstra had briefed the department, ACMA and the NSW ambulance service.

Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said there had been a “cover-up” in the investigation.

“I am absolutely stunned despite the huge public concern about this. [triple zero outages] … no one in the industry even at one point wanted to come clean and say there was another death six days later [after the Optus outage]. This is a cover up. “You all take care of yourselves,” he said.

Samsung’s mobile division president Eric Chou said that the investigation launched after the Wentworth Falls incident found that 71 models were blocked or needed to be updated.

It said the devices were sold between 2015 and 2021 and were configured to connect to Vodafone’s 3G network because 4G emergency calling was not available on Vodafone’s 4G network until 2021.

“Samsung is working with each of the networks on a contingency basis and assisting in the identification process of affected phones that were not previously identified during the 3G shutdown,” Chou said.