WACOSS

WACOSS and the WA Digital Inclusion Project are concerned about the impacts of this outage on regional and remote communities that rely on a single network provider for essential communications.

For many of them, this can mean no access to health services, community services, banking, education, business operations and emergency communications.

Reliable access to telecommunications is not a luxury for regional and remote communities. It is essential infrastructure.

We are particularly concerned about reports that network disruptions may affect access to emergency services.

The WA Digital Inclusion Project, which works alongside these communities, has consistently heard that connectivity is critical to accessing services, maintaining social connections and participating in daily life.

Today's outage highlights the importance of access to telecommunications and infrastructure resilience. When communities have limited connectivity options, disruptions can have far-reaching consequences for individuals, communities and local economies.

On Wednesday 9 July 2026, a Telstra outage affected customers nationwide, impacting their ability to make phone calls, including calls to Triple Zero from Telstra services.

Telstra has advised the issue has now been resolved and testing has identified no further network issues.

WA Police received three welfare check requests associated with the outage. All welfare checks were resolved without issue, with no police or emergency services assistance required.

For updates and further information, please visit the Telstra website.

Shelter WA's new report reveals Western Australian renters are turning down work and avoiding job searching altogether out of fear of losing their social housing or waitlist place 👇

Today Shelter WA released our latest report 'The Eligibilty Trap: Income eligibility limits, work disincentives and social housing in Western Australia'

The report reveals Western Australian renters are turning down work and avoiding job searching altogether out of fear of losing their social housing or waitlist place.

The report examines the impact of WA’s income eligibility limits for social housing, which determine how much a person can earn to stay eligible for social housing. In Perth, this is just $551 per week for a single person – just above the disability and age pension and about half the minimum wage.

This is leaving many Western Australians stuck in an affordability gap where they earn too much for social housing, but not enough to afford the private market.

WA’s income limits have been effectively static for over a decade and are the lowest in the country, sitting below Queensland ($609), NSW ($795), Tasmania ($797), Victoria ($797 – $1,173), SA ($882), the ACT ($925-$2,313) and the NT ($1,114) at the time the report was written.

You can access the article in The West Australian online at https://thewest.com.au/business/property/when-minimum-wage-is-too-much-and-not-enough-leaving-people-in-the-social-housing-eligibility-trap-c-22501613?utm_campaign=share-icons&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=clipboard&tid=1782782251721.
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Read the Shelter WA Media Release at https://www.shelterwa.org.au/media-release-the-eligibility-trap-thats-discouraging-western-australian-renters-from-working/