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South Australia’s ambulance service was signed up to a new system that is supposed to send notifications when Optus has a triple-zero outage. However, Guardian Australia can reveal SA Ambulance service did not receive a notification during last month’s outage, which has been linked to the deaths of two people in the state and another in Western Australia.
“SAAS is signed up for notifications and did not receive any such notifications from Optus during the outage last week,” a spokesperson said.
Optus refused to comment last week, saying that while an independent review led by Dr Kerry Schott is under way “we will respect this process and will not provide a running commentary”. The spokesperson said the Optus board has committed to releasing Schott’s report.
September’s triple-zero outage was caused by a network firewall upgrade that blocked emergency calls for Optus customers in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales.
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In pictures
The theme of this year’s Women By Women exhibition, Rooted in Resistance, is to showcase images of women defending their land and communities from destruction – by powerful people and corporations or the climate crisis. The collection features pictures taken by female photographers from Nepal, Cambodia, Brazil and Nigeria.
What they said …
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“There was a fear of what might happen. And I think you all know where that comes from …”
The ABC was racked by a culture of fear after “relentless years” of external pressure when Hugh Marks took over as managing director six months ago. Speaking with ABC supporters at a Sydney dinner, Marks declared that “this ABC will be stronger and stronger in 50 years’ time than it is today”.
Full Story
Newsroom edition: the battle to regulate AI
Tech companies are asking the government to allow them to effectively steal the work of creatives and journalists to train their AI large language models, hyping the potential value of AI to the economy and urging lawmakers to give them an exemption from copyright laws to realise it. Now creatives are fighting back.
Bridie Jabour speaks with editor Lenore Taylor and deputy editor Patrick Keneally about the need to regulate AI and the threat it poses to journalism.
Before bed read
Taylor Swift has gone through many evolutions over her 20-year career: the guitar-strummer of her 2006 debut, the wide-eyed New Yorker on 1989, the introspective storyteller of Folklore and Midnights. Now, for her 12th album, Swift returns in the guise of the ultimate iconic performer: a showgirl, leaning into the idea that her image is a gilded fantasy, writes Elle Hunt.
Read our full review of The Life of a Showgirl.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: SAP. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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