Embattled telco Optus has been put on notice as the federal government prepares to push through new laws beefing up oversight of the industry.
The Singapore-owned company's chief executive Stephen Rue, along with the heads of rival telcos Telstra and TPG, have been summoned by Communications Minister Anika Wells to Canberra ahead of peak natural disaster season.
The sector is in the government's crosshairs after shocking revelations of triple-zero outages in September that were linked to the deaths of three people.
As parliament resumes for a shortened three-day sitting week on Tuesday, Ms Wells will look to rush through legislation enshrining a triple-zero custodian.
The measure was recommended in a review of a previous Optus emergency call outage in 2023 and is intended to increase oversight on telcos and make sure Australians can reliably access the essential service.
The government has been sitting on the recommendations of the review since March 2024, but has been pressured into fast-tracking the laws following the latest Optus revelations.
The minister could enact the custodian with a cabinet decree, but has decided to go down the legislative route with passage through the Senate having to wait until the end of October.
Ms Wells said she was still a "new minister" in the industry so was listening to advice from all quarters.
"We are fast-tracking our triple-zero guardian legislation that will give confidence to Australians about the specific role that triple zero plays for us in our country with disaster season ahead," she said recently.
In a letter sent to telco bosses on Saturday, Ms Wells told them to update her on how they would comply with new reporting obligations taking effect in November and how they were ensuring further outages would be avoided.
"With Australia's disaster season approaching, telecommunications providers play an important role," she wrote.
"People must have trust in the reliability of our triple-zero service when they need it most."
The opposition has flayed the government for having a "hands-off" approach to the outages.
"This is Australians' lives," opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh told Sky News on Sunday.
"This is about confidence in the whole triple-zero network. The minister herself has the powers to immediately act."
Senior staff from the Department of Home Affairs are also expected to face tough questions this week over Australia's $2.5 billion, 30-year deal to resettle unwanted former immigration detainees in Nauru.
Australia's special envoys to combat anti-Semitism and Islamophobia will appear before senators after their recent reports and recommendations to the government.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is expected to face some tricky questions of her own as she returns to Canberra for the first time since rogue MP Andrew Hastie quit the front bench to speak out about immigration policy.
His resignation followed the earlier dumping of Liberal colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price over comments she made about Indian migrants.