Optus CEO Refuses Resignation After Fatal Emergency Outage Across Australia

Stephen Rue, CEO of Optus, apologized to the Australian Parliament for a September 18 outage of the "000" emergency number, linked to the deaths of three to four people, but refused calls to resign, emphasizing the need for leadership stability during the company’s recovery phase. The outage, caused by human error during a routine firewall upgrade, prevented over 600 emergency calls from connecting for more than 12 hours, with alarms triggered but not acted upon promptly. Rue acknowledged multiple failures in the response and communication surrounding the incident and accepted full responsibility, stating that another leadership change could disrupt ongoing transformation efforts and pose further risks. The crisis compounds a series of challenges for Optus, including a major 2022 cyberattack exposing millions of customer records and a 2023 nationwide service outage, which have intensified public anger and regulatory scrutiny. Optus announced the planned departure of CFO Michael Venter and CIO Mark Potter in early 2026, signaling further leadership changes amid efforts to restore trust by adding new call center staff and enhancing safeguards for emergency services. Despite the intense pressure, Rue maintains that the company must focus on recovery and reform rather than leadership upheaval to regain public confidence and prevent future failures.