When a telco network suffers a prolonged outage, as was the case with Telstra today, it is usually the chief executive of that network who ends up in the firing line. Think Kelly Bayer Rosmarin at Optus or — for those with long enough memories — Nigel Dews during the Vodafail debacle.
Today, embattled Communications Minister Anika Wells was the one caught in the blast zone. She can’t catch a trick with these things.
When parliament rose last week, Wells would have been looking forward to a few days off with her family during the winter break.
It was a chance to put behind her the controversy surrounding last September’s Optus triple-zero outages, her unpopular proposed changes to gambling advertising laws and the self-inflicted damage to her personal brand caused by her extensive use of taxpayer-funded travel to sporting events for herself and her husband around the nation.
