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Key events
Union hits back after Optus blames triple-zero outage on staff
The Communication Workers Union hit back strongly after the boss of Optus’s parent company blamed staff and technology for the triple-zero outage that left four people dead, Australian Associated Press reports.
After a meeting yesterday with the communications minister, Anika Wells, Singtel’s chief executive, Yuen Kuan Moon, said the critical incident had been caused by problems with personnel.
“It’s a people issue and it takes time to change and transform the people,” Yuen said after the meeting.
But his comments prompted a scathing retort from the Communication Workers Union, which said the executive’s attempt to throw staff under the bus was “utterly outrageous” and “a dirty attempt to shirk responsibility for the telco’s systemic failures”.
“You don’t fix a systemic failure by scapegoating the people on the frontline,” national secretary Shane Murphy said.
If the system can’t carry a triple-zero call, that’s a boardroom failure, not a ‘people failure’.
Read more here on Anika Wells’ meeting:
Good morning, and happy Wednesday. Nick Visser here to pick up the blog. Let’s jump in.
Ley lays down law to frontbenchers
Sussan Ley has written to her frontbench team laying out minimum standards of behaviour and the Coalition party’s policy priorities, according to reports.
After a shaky start to her leadership with the resignation of the outspoken senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and a policy revolt on net zero by Andrew Hastie, Ley has informed her top team by email that they will be receiving letters to inform them about key performance indicators that they will be expected to meet in order to shore up party discipline, according to Nine newspapers.
The email says:
“They [the letters] set out policy priorities and key performance indicators, encompassing both the leader’s direction as well as areas where shadow ministers wish to advance policy,” it said.
“The letters provide clear direction and a tasking to shadow ministers beyond the conventional mirroring of government portfolios, putting the Coalition on a proactive policy path.”
A spokesperson for Ley told the SMH that the letters “will enable the Coalition to develop a clear, credible policy platform to take to the election, drawing a clear contrast with Labor rather than simply responding to the government”.
The Nine newspapers say Ley’s use of these “charter letters” harks back to strategy first used by Bob Hawke but not traditionally used by opposition leaders.
Nicole Kidman files for divorce from Keith Urban
Nicole Kidman has filed for divorce from Keith Urban after 19 years of marriage, Associated Press reports.
Kidman petitioned on Tuesday to end the marriage in a Nashville court. The filing states the marriage “suffered irreconcilable differences.”
The 58-year-old Oscar-winning actor and the 57-year-old Grammy-winning country singer, both raised in Australia, met in 2005 at a Los Angeles event honouring Australians and were married in Sydney the following year.
They have two teenage daughters together.
The marriage was the first for Urban and the second for Kidman, who was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001. Kidman also has two older children with Cruise.
Their split was first reported by TMZ.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser to take over.
Union bosses have reacted angrily to what they call an attempt by the boss of Optus’s parent company to “scapegoat” workers for the recent triple-zero outage. More coming up.
Sussan Ley has responded to recent vocal criticism about her policy path by writing to her frontbench team, laying out minimum standards of behaviour and the Coalition party’s policy priorities, according to reports. More coming up.
And hot on the heels of reports that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban had broken up, Kidman has made it official, filing for divorce in a US court.
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