Outrage is building over the Optus triple-0 outage, which blocked more than 600 emergency calls and has been linked to several deaths. The federal government says that there will be significant consequences for the telco once the regulator, the Australian Media and Communications Authority, has concluded its investigation. MacDonnells Law practice leader and former state and federal prosecutor, Aaron Guilfoyle, says industrial manslaughter should be considered by the regulator in any case where there’s an interplay between a fatality and the conduct of a business. Mr Guilfoyle obtained the first ever conviction for industrial manslaughter in Australia in 2020 against Brisbane Auto Recycling and its two directors. He says when it comes to individuals being held liable in cases, the bar is high but it’s not insurmountable. He says penalties in such cases range from 20 years to life in prison in some jurisdictions. But when it comes to deterrence, it wanes if regulators fail to prosecute these cases.
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