PM under pressure in US; Optus CEO apologises; auctions boom

PM under pressure in US; Optus CEO apologises; auctions boom

News in brief

Pressure is rising on Optus to be penalised as investigations are promised into an outage linked to at least three deaths. Optus boss Stephen Rue has apologised to the community for the company’s triple-zero failure and said early investigations show that established processes were not followed.

 

The spring selling season is hot, with preliminary clearance rates over the past week hitting a four-year high, and Melbourne leading the way. The preliminary auction clearance rate hit 77.9 per cent across the combined capitals.

 

Has Regional Express, better known as Rex, finally found a buyer? The AFR is reporting that Nasdaq-listed aircraft operator Air T has put together an offer that might get across the line.

 

Australia’s population has hit 27.5 million people, 423,000 more than a year ago. The ABS stats, which measure the population as at every March, show that there was a natural increase of 107,000 – that’s births minus deaths – while immigration added 316,000.

 

Donald Trump is adding a $100,000 fee to applications for H-1B visas, in a major overhaul of the visa system for highly skilled foreign workers. The proclamation intends to curb the number of applicants for the work permits, which are favoured by US tech companies.

 

Fear-o-meter

The Optus triple-zero outage should never have happened, and the deaths of at least three people, as a result, are tragic. Calls for CEO Stephen Rue to resign are not surprising, if a little aggressive.

 

When major infrastructure outages occur, they tend to fall into three buckets. A problem with the hardware (poles and wires), with the technology or with the people. In this instance it appears that the problem was with the people.

 

You have to feel very sorry for the individual(s) involved, who according to Rue, did not escalate the outage to managers. Without knowing any more detail than that, I don’t think you can blame them. The onus should be on Optus for not training staff well enough; for not ensuring in cases of life and death, such as triple-zero calls, every operator knows the exact procedure to follow.

 

The previous Optus CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, was forced to resign after two incidents - a data breach and then a major network outage for 14 hours. While a far more extensive outage, it (seemingly) did not have the tragic consequences of last week’s breach.

 

Does that mean Rue should go?

Fear & Greed Q+A today

On the week ahead for the economy, and whether the RBA is on the cusp of achieving its dual goals of strong employment and low inflation:

 

"The RBA's forecast... is that inflation will be about 2.5 % over the next couple of years. So we can tick that box... The unemployment rate is still 4.2%, it's been bouncing around there for a few months. And on most measures, that is fantastic. If we can get through this current economic cycle with the unemployment rate peaking at a level below four and a half percent, that is a really good outcome. 

 

And then you throw in there economic growth... Now the consensus and the RBA are forecasting 2%, maybe a fraction more. So if this comes to pass, then that will be great.

 

It's important to remember that that doesn't mean that interest rates don't change and they'll never move again because we've hit this nirvana. But those forecasts are predicated on a couple more rate cuts to lock in that stronger growth and that job creation. And we are, course... alert to shocks that happen. And that could be in the form of Trump tariffs. It could be a US budget position. It could be something domestically. It could be a house price bubble sort of reflating. And of course the bank and others would have to react to that."

It's Monday, the 22nd of September 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly and is expected to announce Australia’s recognition of the Palestinian state. But there is already pressure from US politicians to not make the announcement. A letter co-signed by 25 Republican members of Congress accused Australia and other countries of “legitimising a Palestinian terror state” and threatening repercussions.

Greed-o-meter

Year	Population
1901 (Federation)	3.8 million
1918	5 million
1959	10 million
2004	20 million
2018	25 million
2025	27.5 million

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With Australia's population hitting 27.5 million this year (up 423,000 on last year), we're taking a look at when the key milestones in Australia's population growth have been achieved.

Listen to today's episode 🎧 

Source: ABS