Two SUBCO subsea communications cables — sequential shunt faults

What happened

Two separate SUBCO-owned submarine communications cables suffered faults in short succession and close proximity inside the federally declared Perth Submarine Cable Protection Zone. Reporting supplied with the incident identified the systems as Indigo West, linking Perth with Singapore, and Indigo Central, linking Perth with Sydney; the reviewed ABC report confirms that two SUBCO cables were affected but does not itself name them, so those individual system identifications remain reported rather than independently established here. SUBCO founder Bevan Slattery described the timing and nearby vessel activity as concerning and asked the Australian Federal Police to investigate. The AFP confirmed that it had received a report of a potential crime and was assessing the information. No public finding has established deliberate damage, sabotage, a responsible vessel or an actor. Shunt faults indicate damage to cable insulation and can result from anchors, trawling, movement on the seabed or other non-malicious causes. A contemporaneous provider notice said Indigo West traffic was using alternate routes while repair work awaited a cable vessel, but that notice alone does not establish the cause of either fault or confirm that both repair schedules were identical. The marker is an approximate offshore reference because the fault coordinates were not published.