PM Lawrence Wong extends condolences to families affected by Optus outages in Australia

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has expressed his condolences for the deaths of four people linked to network outages of Australian telco Optus, which is owned by Singtel. 

“First of all, I can fully understand the anger, frustration and outrage by what happened,” Mr Wong said in an interview with Australian broadcaster ABC released on Monday (Oct 6). 

“And I would like to extend my condolences to everyone who has been impacted by the outage, especially the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives.”   

Optus suffered two emergency call outages less than a fortnight apart, affecting thousands of Australian customers. The outages were also linked to four deaths because customers were unable to get timely aid.

When asked what actions he was personally taking to ensure such outages would not happen again, Mr Wong said Singapore does not interfere with commercial operations.

“As far as Singapore is concerned, while we may be shareholder through Temasek, we have always operated on a very clear cardinal principle that we do not get involved in commercial operations. We do not direct commercial matters,” Mr Wong said.

“We want these companies to operate commercially, and when they do and when they expand overseas, we fully expect them and their subsidiaries to comply with domestic laws where they operate and to be responsible corporate citizens.”  

As of Mar 31 this year, Singapore state investment firm Temasek owned 51 per cent of Singtel.

Mr Wong is making his first official visit to Australia as prime minister from Monday to Thursday.

He noted Singtel CEO’s visit to Australia last week and said he hoped the telco would rectify the issue as soon as possible. 

“They will, I am sure, cooperate fully with the authorities, with the regulator, and work closely with Optus and whichever other independent parties that have been appointed to conduct a full investigation into what happened,” Mr Wong said.

“And I hope they get to the bottom of it as soon as possible, identify the root causes, rectify the issue and restore confidence and trust as soon as possible.”

ENHANCING BILATERAL TIES

In the wide-ranging interview with ABC conducted on Oct 2, Mr Wong was also asked about a range of issues, including defence ties between Singapore and Australia, and green energy cooperation. 

Mr Wong noted that the relationship between the two countries has grown in “diverse and profound” ways over the past 60 years, and that he was “committed” to the partnership. 

“It is a partnership that has grown from strength to strength, and I am committed to this partnership, and I want to see it grow, and I want to do more together. As we enter a profoundly changing world, I believe this partnership matters more than ever,” he said.

“There is still scope to do more together, I believe.”  

On defence ties, Mr Wong noted Singapore and Australia have a “very strong base”, adding that there was room for cooperation to be strengthened further. 

“For example, we are discussing possibilities for our respective militaries to be able to access defence facilities in each of our countries,” he said.

“We are looking at defence technology cooperation as well as defence logistics and supply chains. And that will enable our defence cooperation to go even further.”

On the economic front, Mr Wong said that Singapore and Australia are looking at enhancing cooperation beyond their current free trade agreement, for example, by potentially implementing a supply chain agreement for essential supplies. 

With regard to green energy cooperation, Mr Wong said Singapore is “very interested” in looking at research and development in the area and would like to discuss it further with Australia. 

He also noted Singapore’s limited ability to deploy green energy but pointed to Southeast Asia’s “tremendous potential”.

“Looking at access to technology, financing, these are all ways in which Singapore and Australia can work together to help accelerate that green transition in Southeast Asia,” Mr Wong said.