Telstra CEO steps off the plane and into the lion’s den: Vicki Brady cops brutal questions about tech fail, her huge salary and bonuses at fiery press conference

Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady has endured brutal questions on the telco’s nationwide outage, her salary and whether executives will surrender their bonuses just hours after stepping off a plane after cutting her holiday short.

Millions of customers were unable to make calls, access mobile data or use electronic payment systems on Wednesday morning after a technical failure involving timers at the telco’s Sydney and Melbourne data centres.

Ms Brady was overseas with her family when the country’s biggest telco went into meltdown and had to be contacted via Microsoft Teams after her colleagues were impacted by the network meltdown.

After touching down in Sydney on Friday morning, she gave a press conference alongside chief financial officer Michael Ackland during which she was grilled on her $6.7million salary and whether she holds herself accountable.

‘When it comes to accountability, I’m the CEO and so it absolutely starts with me,’ she said.

‘That will be part of what will be considered once we get through and make sure we understand exactly what happened here and what changes might need to be made, and our board will oversee that process.’

Ms Brady began the press conference with a grovelling apology to impacted Australians.

‘We have let our customers and Australians down and for that I am deeply sorry,’ she said on Friday.

‘I understand how much Australians rely on us to keep in touch, to work, and stay safe.

‘I also understand the broader impact on the community when services go down from things like payments to transport. It’s extremely frustrating.’

‘We have let our customers and Australians down and for that I am deeply sorry,’ she said on Friday.

‘I understand how much Australians rely on us to keep in touch, to work, and stay safe. 

‘I also understand the broader impact on the community when services go down from things like payments to transport. It’s extremely frustrating.’

She has been in regular contact with Communications Minister Anika Wells since Wednesday and updated Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday morning.

Brady booked the first flight home when she became aware of the outage. 

She revealed that she was unable to call her own employee who advised of the outage because his phone was not working and had to contact her via Microsoft Teams.

Brady’s phone was not impacted because she was overseas.

‘I was able to get back in touch with him via Teams,’ she says.

The outage threw public transport into chaos, with all regional train services across Victoria suspended and major rail lines in NSW disrupted by telecommunications faults.

About 300 Triple Zero calls were impacted by the outage, amid concerns it may have contributed to a death in South Australia that is being investigated by police. 

More to come.