‘Don’t deserve it’: Calls for Optus Stadium to be stripped of name after fatal outage

There are growing calls for Optus Stadium to have its name stripped after an outage that has been linked to three deaths.

It’s believed a botched firewall network upgrade triggered an outage about 12.30am on Thursday, impacting Western Australia, South Australia, the Northern Territory and NSW and leaving hundreds of people unable to reach triple-0.

Three deaths have been linked to the Optus outage, two of which were in WA, the telco confirmed on Saturday.

Speaking to 6PR radio on Monday, WA Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas renewed the push to strip Perth’s landmark stadium of its association with Optus, saying the community sentiment was in agreement.

The telco signed a 10-year $50m naming rights deal in 2017 under the McGowan Labor government, with another two years before it runs its course.

Mr Zempilas told the station that he did not believe Optus needed to undergo an investigation into the incident, as the telco “admitted their failings”.

“This is not innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “Optus have admitted their failings. These are repeated failings now from Optus, and they don’t deserve to have their name on our stadium.”

He has long been a critic of the stadium’s naming rights and argued the recent outage could cause further problems.

“I’ve never thought the Optus deal was a good deal for Western Australia,” he said.

“I’ve never been comfortable with giving the naming rights away to our stadium, it’s a missed marketing opportunity, but this is not about marketing right now.”

Online, residents said the arena should be renamed Perth Stadium, with some arguing the naming deal “should never have happened”.

“Call it what it is: Perth Stadium,” said one.

WA Premier Roger Cook said the fatal outage was “a dreadful, dreadful tragedy”.

“It’s so disappointing that it has occurred and it is so disappointing about the way that the situation has been revealed, both to government, to the authorities and to the public,” he said on Saturday.

WA Acting Premier Rita Saffioti told ABC radio that she understood why the public had called for an end to the stadium’s naming rights but did not confirm whether the government would consider it.

“Our priority is making sure that the systems are in place through this federal government inquiry and supporting the families through this time,” she said.

“That’s our priority and all these other issues will be considered in the future, but our priority currently is making sure that these systems are improved so this does not happen again.”