Sky News Weekend Newsday

TRUDY MCINTOSH, HOST: Joining me live now is the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman. Pat. Thanks so much for your time this Saturday, we may have to be interrupted here by the Optus CEO. This is just such a staggering series of events here, not only the fact that this has led to three people's deaths, but also it seems an incredible breakdown in communication from what is a telecommunications company.

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: Trudy, I could not agree more. I think Australians across the country want real answers as to what happened, why the CEO of Optus and their executives did not share information sooner, and why this information was pushed out late on a Friday, and here we are on Saturday afternoon, still waiting for answers and accountability from Optus. What we have seen with the deaths of three of our fellow Australians is absolutely tragic. And I know many Australians today would just be wondering, 'how did this happen? Why didn't Optus ring the alarm bell sooner when they had a problem?' And there are so many questions. Obviously the Minister, Anika Wells, has rightly outlined she wants an investigation into this to get some of those answers, not just for the families and friends of those who have lost their lives, but for all Australians who rely on this essential service.

MCINTOSH: And what are the potential consequences for Optus here? For a previous failure they were issued with a fine, is that the sort of thing - is there going to be an escalation, given we've seen this before?

GORMAN: There are a range of fines that can be applied to telecommunications operators if they do not meet their service obligations, and obviously, Optus has not met its service obligations, to tragic outcomes. There are also a range of other ways that people may choose to engage with Optus on these tragic outcomes as customers and people have been affected by this outage. But really in Australia, a major business like Optus should not need fines or incentives to just do the right thing. This should never have happened. And what can you say to them? I mean, it should not have happened. It is not about delivering a fine. It is about them running an essential service, a service that people rely upon for safety. People rely upon this service to get essential and urgent medical attention, and they were not able to do that. Rightly, millions of Australians have real questions about Optus and why they cannot answer some of the basic questions that have been put to them.

MCINTOSH: Yeah and Pat, you can just only imagine how horrifying it is for those family members who were trying to get through urgently to triple zero. We are always told that that is what you should do when someone is unwell, and for then some of these families to have the worst outcome - I think, from a bigger picture perspective, for me, it's yes, this company has failed, very clearly, Optus. But what's going wrong with the system that means that that call isn't ported to another carrier, for example, Telstra? Is there something that the federal government, state governments can do to ensure that this sort of thing doesn't happen?

GORMAN: Well, I am not familiar with the technical side of how it works, but there are already arrangements where triple zero calls are supposed to be ported from one carrier to another. That has been the case for quite a while now. Again, one of the things I hope we learn from the CEO is why that did not happen. I do not think there is a good answer to that question, frankly. But of course, as the Minister flagged, there will be an investigation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. They will do the work that they are empowered to do under their Act, to look at what happened here and get those answers. Look, we might get full transparency from Optus today, their performance so far indicates that we are probably not going to get that full transparency, and that is why ACMA will step in to do the job of making sure that full transparency and full accountability is ensured for Optus in terms of what has happened here.

MCINTOSH: And Pat as we wait to hear from the Optus CEO, I want to move on to some of the other big issues around today in politics, the Prime Minister is making his way to New York as we speak, quite the long journey to get there. What's the best case scenario do you think out of this trip to the United States? And will a handshake or very brief encounter with Donald Trump be considered enough to be their first meeting?

GORMAN: Well, firstly, obviously, any time that an Australian Prime Minister goes to attend the General Assembly of the United Nations, that is a good moment for Australia us on the world stage, sharing our values and our hopes for the world and our hopes for our country and our region. And that's what the Prime Minister will do when he is at the United Nations. He is due to attend an event being hosted by President Trump. Of course, they have had a number of conversations in recent months, and the President himself - I would refer you to the warm reflections that President Trump has had about those phone conversations. A face-to-face meeting will happen at the appropriate time, but we engage thoroughly, both in our region and across the world, with partners. The Prime Minister will also be going to see our friends in the United Kingdom, our other AUKUS partner, and also visiting the United Arab Emirates.

MCINTOSH: Another one of the big political issues this week, the Government finally locking in the 2035 emissions reduction target, settling on a range in the end of between 62 and 70% reduction. We've been digging through this small library of documents that were released, the modelling and things like that from the Climate Change Authority. One of the key parts of this though, that underpin that assessment is that 50% of all new car sales over the decade will have to be electric vehicles. I know you were out this morning there in Perth, speaking about some of the new funding from the federal government side to try and fix some of the issues in terms of charging. There are still big hurdles in terms of that many Australians needing to purchase electric vehicles. How confident are you that that sort of 50% benchmark will be reached?

GORMAN: We are seeing an increase year-on-year in electric car sales. I have driven an electric vehicle for some four years. They are fantastic vehicles. They are cheap to run. And I know that more and more Australians are making that choice to go to, I think it is about 130 electric vehicles available in the market now. There is a lot of choice out there, whether you need a ute or something that will allow you to do work as a tradie, through to something just help you zip around the inner city. But one of the challenges remains charging infrastructure. I know in my electorate, we were at Kings Park today, where there's a range of public chargers, but even we saw this morning, there are people queuing up for those chargers. One of the solutions, particularly for parts of the country like mine, where you have got lots of houses that do not necessarily have their own garage, lots of people park on the street, is to go to kerbside charging. Now that is using the existing infrastructure, the existing poles and wires that are already there, and finding the regulatory path so that people can put on a charger for their vehicle, or a charge that can be used by the whole street. So that is a pretty practical way of making it easier for people to have an electric vehicle, and it helps all electric vehicle users have more points where they can charge while they are out and about. And again, it is just one small thing where people who have chosen to take that action and have chosen an electric vehicle can do that with a little more ease, and it does help reduce our emissions as a nation.

MCINTOSH: Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, always appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

GORMAN: Thanks, Trudy.