South Australia police are investigating a death at a regional South Australian hospital on Wednesday, after Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle claimed an elderly person had died during the Telstra outage that affected Triple Zero (000) services.
Police Confirm Investigation
In a statement released this afternoon, SA police confirmed they had “repeatedly attempted to contact senator Kerrynne Liddle” on Wednesday evening “to obtain information relating to a Facebook post concerning the Triple Zero (000) outage without success.” One of her staff was contacted and advised SAPOL had no knowledge of a death related to the Triple Zero outage and requested any information held by Senator Liddle. Her staff member advised her office would not be providing any information to police.
Police Attend Senator's Office
On Thursday 9 July, police attended the office of Senator Liddle and spoke with both the staff member and Senator Liddle. As a result, contact was subsequently made with the family of an individual who died at a regional hospital on Wednesday 8 July. Police were not notified of the death. After being advised of the death, police immediately commenced an investigation into the cause and circumstances. A report will be provided to the Coroner.
Broader Context of Telstra Crisis
As the Telstra crisis unfolded, the Coalition fell victim to another communications failure. The outage raised serious concerns about the reliability of emergency services communications, with Senator Liddle's initial claims sparking public outcry. The investigation aims to determine whether the death was linked to the outage, which disrupted Triple Zero calls for several hours.
