Telstra CEO Vicki Brady questioned after nationwide outage

Telstra’s chief executive, Vicki Brady, returned to the office after annual leave to face a flurry of questions following the company’s nationwide outage on Wednesday, which disrupted train services, payment systems and triple‑zero emergency calls. Brady denied that the failure was linked to recent job restructuring, stating that “people and processes worked as they should have.” She announced that Telstra would launch a thorough investigation into the software glitch that caused the outage and clarified that the company was not reviewing executive bonuses in light of the incident, correcting an earlier headline that had suggested otherwise.

The outage, which left thousands of Australians without access to essential services, has drawn scrutiny from regulators and the public. Telstra’s response focuses on a detailed technical review and a commitment to restoring confidence in its network reliability. As the investigation proceeds, the company aims to identify the root cause and implement measures to prevent a recurrence, while maintaining its obligations to emergency services and the broader community.