Optus to pay $100m fine for ‘predatory’ sales practices targeting vulnerable Australians
Josh Taylor
The federal court has fined Optus $100m over ‘predatory’ sales practices in 26 stores, including two in Darwin, that signed up vulnerable customers including First Nations and customers living with a disability to plans they could not afford.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought the action against Optus last year, and in a judgment on Wednesday, Justice John O’Sullivan, said Optus had engaged in “unconscionable conduct” in the practices affecting over 400 customers, and Optus senior management knew, or ought to have known about the systemic failures that allowed the conduct to occur.
He said Optus failed to act with any sense of urgency and abrogated any semblance of responsible corporate behaviour.
He said:
Of particular concern is the fact that Optus conduct predominantly affected vulnerable consumers, including people with mental disabilities, people suffering from financial hardship, those with low financial literacy and people with limited English proficiency and or learning difficulties. Again, many of the vulnerable consumers were also First Nations Australians from regional, remote and very remote communities.
In one example reported by Guardian Australia, a woman with an intellectual disability was signed up to 24 plans she could not afford.
He said the $100m penalty would have a deterrence factor for Optus and others who may think contravention would pay.
The court agreed to the orders proposed by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Optus of the fines and remedies suggested.
Optus chief executive, Stephen Rue, said earlier today Optus would issue a statement following the judgment.
Rue has previously apologised for the conduct – which occurred before he became chief executive – and has made changes, including taking over franchises involved in the conduct.
Key events
Tory Shepherd
Algal bloom inquiry turns to ‘who knew what, and when’
This morning’s algal bloom inquiry in Canberra was very focused on the science – what we do know, and the many (many) things we don’t know about the South Australian disaster.
This afternoon the focus has moved to the more political: “who knew what, and when?”
There’s a sprawling ecosystem of department and agency chiefs being grilled about if and when things were “fed up the chain”, as Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young put it.
Surfers first raised the alarm that something was in the water in March, and the state government got involved later that month.
But it’s fair to say that it wasn’t until the deadly bloom hit Adelaide’s metropolitan beaches that it got a wider audience. Things then snowballed, money and support packages started flowing. The fish kept dying.
Federal environment minister Murray Watt faced outrage for not acting faster both on the bloom and on the marine heatwave that preceded it.
In today’s Senate inquiry into the bloom, various people have said they first became aware of the bloom in March (which was then corrected to May), or April, or July, and that Watt was formally briefed in July.
“Why wasn’t this information flowing faster?” Hanson-Young asked.
Federal agencies were aware but nobody told the federal government.
Nick Visser
That’s all from me! Caitlin Cassidy will be your blog captain for the rest of today’s news.
Optus to pay $100m fine for ‘predatory’ sales practices targeting vulnerable Australians
Josh Taylor
The federal court has fined Optus $100m over ‘predatory’ sales practices in 26 stores, including two in Darwin, that signed up vulnerable customers including First Nations and customers living with a disability to plans they could not afford.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) brought the action against Optus last year, and in a judgment on Wednesday, Justice John O’Sullivan, said Optus had engaged in “unconscionable conduct” in the practices affecting over 400 customers, and Optus senior management knew, or ought to have known about the systemic failures that allowed the conduct to occur.
He said Optus failed to act with any sense of urgency and abrogated any semblance of responsible corporate behaviour.
He said:
Of particular concern is the fact that Optus conduct predominantly affected vulnerable consumers, including people with mental disabilities, people suffering from financial hardship, those with low financial literacy and people with limited English proficiency and or learning difficulties. Again, many of the vulnerable consumers were also First Nations Australians from regional, remote and very remote communities.
In one example reported by Guardian Australia, a woman with an intellectual disability was signed up to 24 plans she could not afford.
He said the $100m penalty would have a deterrence factor for Optus and others who may think contravention would pay.
The court agreed to the orders proposed by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and Optus of the fines and remedies suggested.
Optus chief executive, Stephen Rue, said earlier today Optus would issue a statement following the judgment.
Rue has previously apologised for the conduct – which occurred before he became chief executive – and has made changes, including taking over franchises involved in the conduct.
Laneway festival sells out Sydney and Melbourne dates
Chappell Roan is turning out to be a major drawcard for next year’s Laneway festival.
The event, featuring Alex G, Lucy Dacus, Wet Leg and Role Model, has completely sold out in Sydney and Melbourne. The festival wrote on Instagram:
It’s been a record couple of days, and we can’t thank you enough for the enthusiasm for the festival – we feel so honoured.
Tickets are still available for the Gold Coast, Auckland, Perth and Adelaide.
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Penry Buckley
Teenager charged following alleged antisemitic assault in Sydney CBD
A teenager has been charged following an investigation into an alleged antisemitic assault in Sydney’s CBD this week.
In a statement, NSW police say a 16-year-old boy was arrested yesterday in relation to an alleged assault on a train travelling towards Town Hall station about 4.20pm on Monday.
Police allege a man, 66, was walking towards a train door exit when he was approached by two males. The pair allegedly made threats at knifepoint about the man’s religion before assaulting the 66-year-old and fleeing the scene.
Following investigations, police executed a search warrant at an address in Padstow yesterday, where they arrested the 16-year-old boy.
He was taken to Bankstown Police station where he was charged with being armed with the intent to commit an indictable offence, common assault, as well as publicly threatening violence on the grounds of religion.
He was refused bail to appear at children’s court today.
Logged-out searchers won’t need to verify age, Senate inquiry told – video
The lead author of codes that will require search engines and other services to check the age of users and filter out adult and violent content for those deemed to be under the age of 18 says people will still be able to search the internet without needing to be age checked.
Speaking to a parliamentary inquiry on the codes, Dr Jennifer Duxbury, director of regulatory affairs at tech industry group Digi, explains how it would work.
SA algal bloom could contain species unknown to scientists
Tory Shepherd
“This is possibly the most difficult organism I’ve had to work with,” algal bloom expert Dr Christopher Bolch has told an inquiry in Canberra.
A panel of experts has told the inquiry into SA’s harmful algal bloom that while Karenia mikimotoi was the species initially identified as the cause of the bloom, there are other species that may never have been studied before.
Bolch, from the Australian and New Zealand Marine Harmful Algal Bloom Network, said he had examined samples from the bloom that contained “a species we know very little about”.
“They are still trying to determine exactly which species it is or whether it is new,” he said.
The network’s professor Shauna Murray, who is leading the group investigating the bloom, said “we don’t actually know which Karenia species we have in this bloom yet”.
There are four or five, she said, and one is producing brevetoxins, but it’s not clear which one. That means it’s not even clear what the cause of the bloom was, she said, or what is causing toxic effects.
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies emeritus professor Gustaaf Hallegraeff said it was “almost certainly an organism that has never been cultured anywhere else in the world”.
The network is working on an almost voluntary basis, although it is working with state government agencies, and says grants are needed for better resourcing and research.
Optus outage ‘a process issue, not an investment issue’, CEO insists
Rue was asked if a lack of investment in Optus by its parent company, Singtel, could be linked to the outage. Rue stressed there was no issue with staffing or investment, saying a standard process behind the upgrade was not followed.
That’s not an investment issue. That is people not following processes …
This is not about lack of staff. What has occurred here is a standard process that’s not been followed. What the independent review, again, will do is outline the facts of that, which we’ll make public.
But that is a process issue, not an investment issue.
Rue says independent review will identify the causes behind outage, adding 480 triple-zero calls did not get through
Rue said the independent review conducted by Dr Kerry Schott, reported earlier in the blog, would identify the causes behind the outage and examine Optus’ processes during network upgrades. He said:
The independent review will investigate the series of events that took place here and determine why all triple-zero calls could not divert correctly. To be very clear, Optus is accountable for the operations of its network …
The independent review, as well as our ongoing investigations, will be examining why this happened and will determine whether there are any patterns that exist in the call failures.
Of 631 people who called triple-zero during the outage, 480 did not get through. The remainder were able to access emergency services, either through the Optus network or through other carriers.
Optus CEO apologises again for triple-zero outage, saying he will be as ‘open and transparent as we can’ amid investigation
Optus CEO Stephen Rue is holding a press conference at Optus headquarters after the triple-zero outage last week.
Rue maintained he had made a “commitment to be as open and transparent as we can”, adding:
There are very many moving parts to this. We do not want to release inaccurate information and therefore are doing our very best to ensure we have established the facts before we discuss them.
… Once again, I would like to apologise to everyone impacted by the triple-zero failures. There are no words, no words, that can express how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of four people, who could not reach emergency services in their time of need.
Thousands without power in WA’s Kalgoorlie-Boulder
Thousands of customers are without power in the regional town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder in Western Australia after an unplanned outage hit large swathes of the region.
Western Power said around 5,000 customers were experiencing the outage, with an estimated restoration time around 3.30pm local time.
The ABC notes its the third major blackout in the mining city in about two years.
Chalmers says Optus triple-zero outage ‘a disgrace’ that can ‘never happen again’
Chalmers said the government would “get to the bottom” of what happened with Optus’ triple-zero outage, adding:
What we’ve seen with Optus and with the failures from triple zero is a disgrace. And my colleagues have made that clear. These are devastating, disgraceful developments … we will get to the bottom of what’s happened here.
This can never happen again.
Chalmers says inflation figures show ‘we’ve got a lot going for us’
Chalmers has been speaking to reporters after the release of the latest monthly inflation data. He said the latest figures showed there was still “a lot of work to do”, but reflected an economy in good standing:
We’ve got a lot of work to do. But we’ve got a lot going for us as well …
Today’s figures show the very substantial and sustained progress that we have made when it comes to underlying inflation. Despite the increased volatility in the global economy, underlying inflation is within the target range and that’s a promising result in uncertain times.
Jim Chalmers flags terms of reference for ‘contentious’ GST review
Patrick Commins
Later today Jim Chalmers will release the terms of reference for the Productivity Commission’s scheduled review of the GST.
Speaking to journalists, the treasurer said “the GST distribution will always be a contentious issue”:
These terms of reference are broad enough to look into some of the issues and concerns which have been raised by the states.
The commonwealth collects GST revenue and then distributes it between the states and territories according to a complex formula managed by the Commonwealth Grants Commission.
This formula is supposed to carve up the GST according to the needs of the different jurisdictions and their capacity to generate their own income.
This principle of “horizontal fiscal equalisation” – that the fiscally weaker states would be pulled up towards the strongest – was violated when the Morrison government, in a bid to shore up political support in the west, guaranteed a level of GST for the country’s richest state, Western Australia.
Saul Eslake, an independent economist, has described the WA GST deal (which has been supported by Labor) as “the worst Australian public policy decision of the 21st century”.
We’ll soon find out whether the PC’s terms of reference for its review of the GST distribution will include WA’s sweetheart deal.
Josh Taylor
Optus’s parent company backs telco following triple zero outage
The chief executive of Optus’s parent company Singtel, Yuen Kuan Moon, apologised for the triple zero outage last week, saying Singtel is supporting Optus through its transformation following chief executive Stephen Rue’s appointment in November last year.
In a statement on Wednesday, Moon said Singtel was “deeply sorry” for the outage, and “hearts go out” to the family and friends of those who died.
Moon indicated Singtel was supporting the executive team through the investigation process:
Optus is in the midst of an ongoing transformation led by Stephen Rue who was appointed 11 months ago to lead the charge.
We will continue to fully support the Optus board and management team as they work through this incident and accelerate the changes needed.
We are committed to the continued transformation of Optus to improve the processes and resiliency of the company and improve the reliability of critical services.
Singtel has invested over $9.3bn in Optus in the past five years. Moon said a large portion of this investment has gone to building network infrastructure.
Moon is expected to visit Australia next week.
