Premier Anthony Albanese has come under fire for taking a five-day holiday to Queensland as the country recovers from a crippling global technology blackout.
Major companies including airlines, banks and supermarkets were affected on Friday afternoon after antivirus firm CrowdStrike released a faulty update.
Microsoft computers running the software shut down around the world before displaying a “blue screen of death” until the next day, when the company released a fix.
As Australian fighters suffered flight delays and cancellations through Saturday, Albanese boarded a flight to the Sunshine State later in the day.
His office confirmed that the five days of leave were planned in advance and that he will be continuously briefed on the blackout. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles will take his place during his absence.
Even though Albanese had already planned the holiday, Australians were furious that he had left the task of cleaning up the place to the rest of his government.
One said that while the blackout was not caused by the government, it still played a “major role in the recovery and aftermath.”
“They can implement systems to help the poor get food (or) help small businesses with a cheat sheet of technological solutions,” they wrote in X.
Premier Anthony Albanese (pictured with partner Jodie Haydon) took a five-day holiday to Queensland the day after a global technology disruption affected entire industries.
“The world has almost shut down but Albo is still going on vacation,” wrote a second.
A third added: “He doesn’t realize.”
Others argued that Albanese would have little influence in fixing a global technology outage.
“What do you think a prime minister should do about an international software failure?” asked one X user.
‘Do you need to go to the local supermarket and process the food?’
Another said “there is nothing I can do… It is a technical resolution that requires intervention on the ground.”
“Yes, it will take time, but there is nothing any politician can do,” they wrote.
Home Secretary Claire O’Neil confirmed the economy was in “recovery mode” after businesses regained access to their computers.
However, Ms O’Neil also pointed to “teething” problems as a result of the service disruption and warned of opportunistic scammers trying to take advantage of Australians.
“What we’re seeing in some reports are attempts to conduct phishing via the incident that just occurred,” O’Neil told reporters on Saturday.
He said scammers are posing as CrowdStrike or Microsoft in emails asking potential victims to “enter banking details to gain access to a reset.”
“Could I ask all Australians to be really cautious over the next few days about attempts to use this for scams or phishing?” Ms O’Neil said.
A faulty update from a cybersecurity firm caused Microsoft computers to crash at airports (pictured, locked computers at Sydney airport), banks and other major businesses.
CrowdStrike released a statement on Friday evening confirming that a software update had affected Windows hosts and noting that it was not a cyberattack.
“The problem has been identified, isolated and a solution has been implemented,” he said.
‘We understand the seriousness of the situation and deeply regret any inconvenience and disruption.
“We are working with all affected customers to ensure that systems are back up and running and can provide the services their customers count on.”
Several businesses, including media organisations such as News Corp’s global operations, ABC, SBS, Channel 7, Channel 9 and Network 10, were affected.
It has also affected EFTPOS services, airlines, banks and supermarkets, plunging the entire nation into chaos.
Crowdsourced website Downdetector listed outages for Foxtel, NAB, Bendigo Bank, Suncorp Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Me Bank.
Telstra, Microsoft, Google, Foxtel, National Australia Bank, ABC, Uber, ANZ and Bendigo Bank also suffered outages.