> 
> The problem was exacerbated because Panix could find no way 
> of contacting Melbourne IT over the weekend.
> 

Actually we have fairly comprehensive coverage.

We have staff in the office continuously (24 hours) from
8:30am Monday to 12:30pm on Saturday to answer phone calls.

We then have customer service staff available on-call for Sunday for
emergencies.
The call in number is available to all resellers.

Our second level help/operational staff are available 24/7 to respond to
any issue, with escalation processes up to the CEO.

In this case the call did not come from a customer, but a third party
affected by a hijack, which hasn't happened to us before.

Incidently Panix did get through on Sunday by calling the CEO whose
mobile phone contact details were available on the Internet!

We are reviewing our processes for emergencies to ensure that people can
get in touch with us when necessary, and ensuring that all related
parties such as registry operators also have access to the right numbers
to call for customer service issues.  

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin