Gladys Berejiklian as new Optus CEO? You can’t be serious

Gladys Berejiklian with disgraced MP Daryl Maguire.

Surely suggestions that former New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian is in the running to take over the reins as CEO at Optus aren’t serious. Do we have such short memories? Are the decision makers at Optus that out of touch with recent political history in this country? That said, after the way the telco has mismanaged crisis after crisis, anything is possible.

Berejiklian was hired by Optus early last year in a newly created role titled: Managing Director, Enterprise, Business and Institutional. She had worked in corporate affairs in one of the big banks prior to embarking on her political career so an executive role was of itself an unsurprising post political career move.

But with talk that she’s now being considered as the next CEO at Optus it’s time to mention the elephant in the room: the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption found that she engaged in “serious corrupt conduct” when she didn’t report what her former lover Daryl Maguire told her.

Berejiklian and Maguire had a secret relationship when he was a Liberal backbencher and she was running the state.

At one level Optus needn’t worry: ICAC didn’t recommend criminal charges be laid because ICAC evidence isn’t admissible in court, courtesy of the lost right to silence during its hearings. So unlike Donald Trump, who theoretically could become US President while behind bars if his legal problems end badly for him, that’s not in play when it comes to Berejiklian.

But what about the optics of Optus appointing a former premier with limited corporate experience compared to alternative candidates, and an ICAC “serious corrupt conduct” finding against her, as its CEO? That doesn’t strike me as a great call to make in the wake of the cyber crisis and the network blackouts Optus has suffered. It doesn’t seem like a good strategic way forward, putting controversy in the rear view mirror. Especially considering that the ICAC investigation into Berejiklian’s conduct started because of concerns over a breach of trust by the then Premier because of failures of disclosure. Think about that in the context of what has angered customers and politicians overseeing the telecommunications industry during recent failures at Optus.

You can think ICAC’s powers are too strong, or it’s findings sometimes go too far (I hold that view) and still realise Berejiklian shouldn’t be considered for the Optus job in the wake of her very public fall from grace.

Apart from anything else Optus should appoint its next CEO externally rather than from within. Current executives, including Berejiklian, have had a voice at the table when recent poor decisions have been made. The telco needs to hire a fresh faced outsider to break from the problems of late. He or she might then consider a wider executive clean out.

You could forgive Optus for appointing Berejiklian to their executive team initially, given the ICAC findings against her hadn’t been handed down at the time, but after? And with a promotion to the corner office now? It’s simply unfathomable, but then again so much else is too when it comes to corporate decision making.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.