Optus faces fresh battle after star recruit Gladys Berejiklian loses her corruption appeal

The telco which hired a former NSW premier after she was targeted by a corruption inquiry has ‘acknowledged’ court findings but said little about the consequences.

Gladys Berejiklian holds the title of Optus managing director of enterprise and business. Picture: Jane Dempster

Optus faces a fresh headache largely of its own making after its star recruit, former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, lost her legal bid to overturn a “serious corrupt conduct” finding against her.

Australia’s second biggest telco hired Ms Berejiklian in early 2022 to look after its business customers in its newly created role of managing director, enterprise, business and institutional.

She had resigned as premier months earlier after becoming the subject of a NSW anti-corruption investigation.

It was a bold move by Optus when such proceedings were afoot. Former chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said at the time: “To deliver on our vision we need to think and do things differently.

“Gladys is a proven leader who demonstrated her renowned strength, leadership, discipline, and composure. I believe she will be a game changer for Optus in bringing our business-focused teams together.”

But 16 months later, the Independent Commission Against Corruption revealed the results of its investigation, finding Ms Berejiklian engaged in serious corrupt conduct while in office. This related to her failing to disclose her relationship with her then partner, ex-MP Daryl Maguire, and the approval of two multimillion-dollar grants in his former Wagga electorate.

Ms Berejiklian sought to overturn that finding but on Friday morning, in a split two-one decision NSW Chief Justice Andrew Bell dismissed her bid with costs.

An Optus spokeswoman said the telco “acknowledges the judgment” but declined to comment further, directing queries to Ms Berejiklian’s own statement.

“Optus acknowledges the judgment handed down today in the NSW Court of Appeal in relation to Ms Berejiklian’s time as a member of the NSW parliament. We refer you to the media statement issued by Ms Berejiklian and have no further comment at this time,” the Optus spokeswoman said.

Ms Berejiklian highlighted the dissenting judgment and said it was an “honour and privilege” to serve as premier.

“As the court noted, the ICAC Act does not permit a ‘merits’ review of the findings of ICAC,” she said.

Former Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said Ms Berejiklian represented a “game changer”. Picture: Martin Ollman

“The dissenting judgment held that the report was beyond power and that the findings of ICAC should be quashed.”

For Optus, it now faces what to do with a former politician who has been found to have engaged in corrupt conduct during office and now serves on its executive.

Optus is already trying to rebuild trust among its customers after the cyber attack in late 2022, and last October’s national outage which cut off more than 10 million Australians from essential telecommunication services. More than 2000 were unable to call emergency services on triple-0.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin resigned last November after appearing at a Senate inquiry into the outage where senators branded her evidence as “fluffy” and “lousy”.

Its former network boss, Lambo Kanagaratnam, who joined Ms Bayer Rosmarin at the Senate inquiry, has also left.

Ms Berejiklian was initially understood to be one of the contenders to succeed Ms Bayer Rosmarin. But such a move would have been difficult while her appeal was under way. The telco eventually hired NBN chief executive Stephen Rue, who although he doesn’t have retail experience is well regarded in Canberra after surviving two changes of government.

After her resignation as NSW premier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Ms Berejiklian had “made the right decision … on a difficult day”.

All eyes will be on what her next decision will be as Optus desperately seeks to overcome its previous failures and restore public confidence.