Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson “had to” test triple-0 during the nationwide Telstra outage because of Labor’s “failure” to keep Australians updated, Angus Taylor said in remarks reviling the Albanese government’s handling of the third telco crisis in two years.

Senator Henderson has drawn condemnation from Labor since claiming she “tested” the emergency system early on in Wednesday’s outage.

Noting Telstra’s requests to “please do not test triple-0”, she said she “had a couple of failed calls this morning” and “obviously I needed to know if triple-zero was working”.

Calling triple-0 without an emergency is a commonwealth offence punishable by up to three years in jail.

The Opposition Leader on Thursday defended Senator Henderson, saying “she was doing a job”.

“We had the facts – triple-0 wasn’t working and many Telstra services weren’t working,” Mr Taylor said, adding that Communications Minister Anika Wells and Anthony Albanese “were nowhere to be seen”.

“I was out doing a press conference before they were.”

He accused the Albanese government of “briefing all sorts of things about the opposition” instead of “doing their jobs”.

“And this is the problem with this government – it’s all political spin. Where’s the action? Where is the serious action?” Mr Taylor said.

“So, the shadow minister had to do what she had to do because of the failure of the minister, not for the first time, but for the second time.”

Liberal frontbencher James Paterson also came to his colleague’s defence, saying he did not “seriously” think the Australian Federal Police would pursue Senator Henderson.

“This is an absolutely desperate attempt from the government to try and distract from their own failures,” he told Sky News.

“Sarah wanted to be informed about the state of the network before she did media interviews.

“I understand why she did. It’s certainly not an offence.”

Labor’s criticism of Senator Henderson continued on Thursday morning, with Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres declaring himself “shocked”.

“I’m rarely shocked by developments in politics. I was absolutely shocked by that revelation,” he told ABC radio.

“I just say to Australians – don’t do what she did. There is a framework here that is about managing these issues.

“Individual Australians taking it upon themselves, like apparently Senator Henderson did, to make telephone calls, to make triple-0 calls like that is not in anybody’s interest.

“It’s utterly irresponsible.”

Senator Henderson said on Wednesday she understood the criticism but would not apologise.

“I accept the criticism, but what I will say is that I am in a unique position holding this government to account,” she said.

‘Distressing reports’

Mr Taylor also defended another Liberal senator for saying her office received a report that an elderly person died after being unable to reach triple-0.

“My office has received a report of a tragic death following an apparent failure to connect to triple-0 during a life-or-death emergency amid Telstra’s nationwide outage today,” Senator Kerrynne Liddle posted on social media.

South Australian authorities and Telstra have denied it, with the state’s police minister accusing Senator Liddle of “wild speculation” that was “downright dangerous”.

“The senator could have called me, called the commissioner, contacted the police, spoken to the media if she wanted to,” South Australian Police Minister Michael Brown said.

“But instead, she chose to put information out publicly which could be to the detriment of the people of South Australia.”

Mr Taylor said Senator Little was simply reporting “distressing reports made to the office”.

‘Ridiculous thing to say’

Telstra could face $30m in fines after hundreds of triple-0 calls failed to go through.

The telco also confirmed on Thursday that a “secondary issue” was still preventing some emergency calls.

Against a backdrop of major outages every year since 2024, opposition environment spokesman Andrew Bragg said “people are going to have to get used to this in Australia because this is becoming the new normal”.

“We’re becoming a very sick country which is declining,” he told Nine’s Today.

“And unfortunately, outages and major problems are going to become the new normal because the country is on the highway to hell here with a high tax, high regulation, huge government, and there’s no competition, no innovation and sadly, this is the new normal in Australia under these guys.”

Appearing opposite Senator Bragg, Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth fired back by dismissing the spray as “ridiculous”.

“That is a really ridiculous thing to say,” she said.

“Of course, this is an obligation on Telstra and Optus.

“To somehow suggest that it’s not their obligation and their responsibility to fix is quite frankly letting them off the hook.”