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Good morning AusCorp. If you were caught up in an Optus outage, we want to hear from you. If you’ve been harassed by a colleague using CBA’s Navigate app, we also want to hear from you. And if you’re a supporter of Geelong, we are here for you.

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💡 Brains Trust

1. “This line is busy”

You’d hope the one number that always works, even when you have no reception, is 000. Apparently not. Less than two weeks after an Optus firewall change blocked 600 emergency calls across SA, WA and the NT (now linked to 4 deaths), Optus logged another miss this past weekend. A tower in Dapto took emergency calling offline for about 9 hours, affecting roughly 4,500 people and at least nine 000 attempts. The back up system that was supposed pass calls over to Telstra didn’t work either.

So while Optus says everyone’s OK and the cause is “under investigation”, what we can confirm as definitely working, is Optus’ offshore customer-service routing. With most of Optus call-centre staff currently based in the Philippines/India, the government isn’t too happy that anyone who wanted to make a 000 complaint actually got sent offshore.

Optus isn’t exactly Australia’s most trusted brand (it’s actually Australia’s 3rd least trusted brand after Woolies and Coles). If you didn’t know already, in 2023, Optus copped a $12m fine for a nationwide outage, there was a separate $100m penalty for “appalling” sales to vulnerable customers; and in 2022 there was just a lite cyber breach that exposed data for 9.5 million people. More recently, we’ve also had reports of recent redundancies across parts of Optus’ tech and cybersecurity teams - not a great look when you’re still working through your PR strategy.

Singtel says it backs the Optus management team, but its backing declined 27% this year in the form of a reduction in investment in the Optus’ mobile network (down ~$237m year-on-year).

2. Navigate

“Bossware” is on the rise - a label for tech that is quickly being used for employee discipline and performance management. Commonwealth Bank’s “Navigate” office app isn’t new and while it’s designed to see where a laptop connects in the building and when people pass through gates, we’re hearing some other uses for the app.

Officially, CBA says Navigate isn’t used to track staff but many employees aren’t convinced, especially when Australia’s Privacy Act has an “employee records” loophole that offers little consolation.

When we asked for the real answers, CBA staff told us that Navigate needs your location to be “always on” in order to function. And according to some of their tech team, the app’s laptop companion “definitely logs keystrokes”, screen time and which apps you use. While this data is supposedly not used in any form, we have heard multiple stories about laptop activity later being pulled up in performance meetings.

The sad truth is that we’ve also had multiple female workers describe instances of male colleagues using location data to find female staff in open plan seating as a means to sit and hangout nearby, despite working in a completely unrelated team.

You’d think your visibility at work would be something you control, especially for those who can see your location. From what it sounds like, CBA’s setup feels closer to SnapChat Maps or Find My, visible to 58,000 colleagues and a HR nightmare just waiting to happen. Throw in keylogging into employee contracts (yes we’ve seen the proof) and constant monitoring, and suddenly the workplace starts to feel like control, not security.

🏉 Sports Catalogue

It's been a big month of sport with more to come before we get into the summer sporting calendar.

In AFL, the Lions went back-to-back. As the reigning AFL Premiers, The Brisbane Lions defeated the Geelong Cats by 47 points at the MCG on Saturday. The Lions overcame a 36-36 half-time score to pull away decisively and becoming the first club to win consecutive premierships since Hawthorn (2013-2015). Young star Will Ashcroft cemented his status, claiming his second consecutive Norm Smith Medal as best afield.

Dynasty fell in the NRL with the Broncos bringing the Brisbane buzz to the NRL by beating the four-time reigning Premiers, the Penrith Panthers, in a Preliminary Final thriller. Captain Adam Reynolds slotted a late sideline field goal to seal the 16-14 victory. The Broncos now face the ever-consistent Melbourne Storm in the Grand Final after the Storm beat the Cronulla Sharks 22-14.

In other notables:

• The Wallabies were unable to break the Eden Park curse, losing a tight encounter to the All Blacks 33-24.

• Oscar Piastri's F1 championship lead was cut to 25 points after he crashed out in Baku;

• The Women's Cricket World Cup has begun in India, with Australia opening their campaign tonight against New Zealand.

• Europe took home the Ryder Cup, holding off a fast finishing US team, 15-13.

📊 AMP’s Finest

Council approvals for new homes fell again in August, down about 6%, with both houses and apartments lower. Australia is aiming to achieve roughly 191,000 new homes a year, a decent target but well below past peaks and short of the 240,000 a year target in the National Housing Accord.

Apartments and townhouses used to be close to 60% of what got approved but now it’s closer to 40%. This drop in apartments and townhouses means that Australia won’t actually keep up with population growth. While costs have eased a little and builders are feeling more confident, lending is tilting toward investors, which keeps prices firm without adding enough large-scale supply.

So even if the RBA trims rates gradually into next year, only faster approvals for more apartments will plug the a shortage of around 200,000-300,000 homes across Australia.

If that was helpful at all, you can listen to the AMP Econosights podcast here, featuring Shane Oliver, Diana Mousina and My Bui. 

 🗞️ On Your Minds

🇦🇺 TOP AUSTRALIAN NEWS RECAP

1. Australian retiree couples now need $75,319 annually for a comfortable retirement, marking a $13,000 increase since 2020. LINK

2. The Australian government has expanded Parental Leave Pay to 24 weeks with superannuation benefits and flexibility options. LINK

3. Australian dentistry graduates earn the highest starting salary at $103,300 whilst pharmacy graduates earn $59,200 - the best paying jobs for university graduates. LINK

4. Australian workers are being urged to stay in their jobs as vacancies fall sharply and up to 800 people compete for a single role. LINK

5. Sydney Airport will implement a $60 flat-rate taxi fare cap from November 3, FY25 as part of a 12-month trial to improve fare transparency. LINK

🌏 THE ODD PICKS

1. The world’s most unaffordable housing markets in a map. LINK

2. With 80% of global travellers visiting just 10% of locations: here’s the list for the most underrated travel destinations for 2024. LINK

3. Turns out if you eat nothing but chicken nuggets for 15 years, things won’t end so well. LINK

4. 6 habits neurologists swear by this to keep their brains sharp. LINK

5. Project REBIRTH is launching an AI-powered mix of airbags, smart fluids and reverse thrust for planes. LINK

TOGETHER WITH

Doga Sydney - Corporate Cuddles & Puppy Yoga

We wrapped up our collab with Doga Sydney and Mirvac last week, closing out the month with another dose of puppy cuddles at the South Eveleigh Technology Park.

If you’re looking for your next team activity, forget the pub, escape rooms and bowling - we’ve got you covered with Corporate Cuddles and Puppy Yoga 🐶

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