In defence of Kelly Bayer Rosmarin

Senator Hollie Hughes, former Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. Picture: NCA Newswire/Martin Ollman

In the end, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin didn’t stand a chance.

While I watched the unedifying pile-on against the now former Optus chief executive play out, I wondered how many chief executives who led Australia’s biggest technology providers were thinking: “There but for the grace of God go I.”

It’s a pity Bayer Rosmarin was forced to resign following the intense media and political barrage. I don’t know her well but she is a graduate of Stanford University, where she studied industrial engineering, and has significant corporate experience at a senior level.

She successfully managed the recovery task after last year’s Optus hack – a grossly illegal act committed by criminals that cost the company money and reputation. (What has the government done to find the perpetrators of this crime?)

Bayer Rosmarin is an intelligent and articulate leader who has increased Optus’s market share and achieved a record high level of staff engagement. It’s a shame to lose an executive of that capability from a major Australian company.

What’s clear is that some politicians rather seem to enjoy the opportunity to grandstand and attack business; as a tactic it distracts the community from the real problems of inflation, cost of living, housing shortages, the costly energy transition, the difficult transition of interest rates back to a normal level and the mounting cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme, where the penchant for milking the system seems to be in full flight.

It took Optus some time to find the cause of the problem. In their ignorance, the knockers expected an immediate explanation with no understanding of the underlying complexity of modern global communications. The pile-on risked distracting the key leaders in Optus, including the chief executive, from the critical task of finding the cause and rectifying it. It was not like a toaster had gone on the fritz.

Maybe Optus could have handled the media a bit better, but in the middle of a crisis that should be a secondary consideration. As an American friend once wisely said to me in a construction crisis: “It’s hard to remember you’re here to drain the swamp when you’re up to your arse in alligators.”

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin

In the end, the system was down for less than 12 hours. Optus immediately apologised and its crisis management plan kicked in, and it worked hard to find and rectify the fault.

Of course Optus will learn from this incident, as will other telcos worldwide. The appointment of a chief operating officer is a sensible move.

In terms of compensation, while telecommunications is an essential service in Australia, if mobile broadband also were to be treated as an essential service then we can expect much higher tariffs to fund a complete back-up system. One sensible solution would be for businesses to take out insurance against such incidents reoccurring, as many already wisely do for the risk of power outages.

We should remember this is a risk that those involved in power supply are worried may eventuate in the coming long hot summer.

We also have to put things in perspective. Your mobile was out for 12 hours. It was not the end of the world as the other mobile, broadband and landline systems were operating. I shouted a coffee to a bloke I didn’t know because I had cash and the card machine wasn’t working. We can always find a way. In the old days telephone landline outages were common and it was treated as normal.

Australia used to be known for its resilience, its capacity to improvise and help each other to get through a crisis, as we do in regional Australia with bushfires and floods.

Modern Australia, especially in its urban areas, now appears to be richer in whingers than the so-called whinging Poms of old, who now look like paragons of virtue and patience. This is a product of 30 years of economic growth and unparalleled prosperity that have made us the envy of the world. We now have two generations that have never experienced a recession or a war. In these volatile times, I reckon we need to take a breath and toughen up.

Tony Shepherd is a former president of the Business Council of Australia and a long-serving company director. He is currently chairman of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust.