Former NBN director Kerry Schott will lead an independent review into last week’s Optus outage, which left hundreds of people unable to call Triple Zero and has been linked to the deaths of three people.
Dr Schott, who has decades of experience in the public and private sector, will work to identify the causes of the outage – the telco’s second in two years – and determine whether the appropriate protocols were met.
Optus chair John Arthur said the company was working to understand what went wrong on September 18, when more than 600 emergency calls in South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory failed.
“In the interests of transparency – and to promote greater community understanding of what went wrong and why – we are committed to sharing the facts of the incident. The appointment of Kerry Schott to conduct an Independent Review will support these objectives,” Mr Arthur said.
“Dr Schott’s extensive cross-industry experience at both the executive and board level, and in both the public and private sectors, particularly in infrastructure, energy, and telecommunications ideally equips her to undertake this review.”
Dr Schott has also been reappointed as the chair of the Competition Taskforce Expert Advisory Panel to advise on the government’s competition reform agenda, Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced on Friday.
Six other part-time members have also been appointed, including Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood, former competition watchdog Rod Sims and outgoing UNSW chancellor David Gonski.
The taskforce was first established by the Albanese government in August 2023 to provide “rolling” competition policy advice related to Treasury’s two-year Competition Review.
Australia’s first female astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg and Kourosh Kalantar–Zadeh, who is best known for his work on semiconductors, ingestible sensors and liquid metals, are among 35 new ATSE fellows.
Other fellows include ARM Hub founder and chief executive Cori Stewart and indigenous water scientist Bradley Moggridge. Environmentalist and Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett was made an honorary fellow.
The Victorian government has named Kate Houghton the new secretary of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DECCA), replacing John Bradley, who lead the department for eight years.
Ms Houghton, who has previously held leadership roles at DECCA’s predecessor, is currently the secretary of the Department of Justice and Community Services. She was awarded a Public Service Medal in 2022 for her contribution to the pandemic response.
NextDC has appointed AirAsia chair and former tech executive Jamaludin Ibrahim as a non-executive director from November 1. He has previously served as a member of the Malaysian government’s Economic Action Council and Digital Economy Council.
Keeping with Southeast Asia, infinite recycling startup Samsara Eco has named Lars Kissau to lead the company’s expansion in the region as its first general manager of Asia.
Dr Kissau spent two decades at BASF, the world’s largest chemicals producer, giving him “unmatched expertise” to help the company scale its operations, Samsara Eco chief executive and founder Paul Riley said.
Gisele Kapterian, the Liberal candidate in the federal Sydney seat of Bradfield, has abandoned her court action challenging the election result, the Australian Electoral Commission announced on Thursday.
The former Salesforce executive – who had a junior shadow cabinet position covering technology waiting for her in Canberra – fell short in the contest by 26 votes in a recount that had overturned an initial count. Independent candidate Nicolette Boele has been confirmed as the winner.
The Queensland government has appointed four new members to the Queensland Treasury Corporation’s Capital Markets Board, including Suncorp chief executive Steve Johnston as chair.
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