October
- Exclusive
- Governance
The incredible financial value of a Qantas board seat
The lavish and fudged flight perks of the airline’s executives are revealed in this extract from Joe Aston’s “The Chairman’s Lounge”.
- Exclusive
- Governance
The zombie chairman: How Goyder let Joyce trash Qantas’ reputation
An exclusive extract from Joe Aston’s book The Chairman’s Lounge tells the inside story of how Richard Goyder and his board allowed Alan Joyce to fly Qantas into a reputational disaster.
February
Joe Aston’s guide to surviving Heathrow and London
Landing in London? Our former Rear Window columnist explains what you need to know about the lounges, exiting the airport and where to go once you’re in town.
Joe Aston’s guide to surviving LA
Rear Window’s incomparable former editor shares his guide to surviving the long haul to LAX – and where to hang out while you’re in the City of Angels.
- Updated
October 2023
Joe Aston’s farewell column
After 12 years of writing Rear Window, my reward was the belly laughs I got to share with AFR readers as, again and again, we denuded the most fantastic pretenders in the nation.
Richard Goyder’s Qantas pantomime swansong
The Qantas chairman has elected to take an excruciating route to the inevitable.
Qantas moons the Senate
The airline considers itself an arm of government when it wants protectionist policy settings but a private company when any transparency is required of it.
The big Qantas stake of Pendal’s Sondal Bensan
The fund manager is personally the 28th largest shareholder in Qantas.
Alan Joyce’s fan fiction fantasy
Most of Alan Joyce’s myths have been swallowed whole by the Australian media, but particularly the fairy story that under him, Qantas became extraordinarily prosperous.
Embattled Richard Goyder farewells Gil McLachlan. Again
You know you’ve drawn a power crowd when not only doesn’t the prime minister get to speak, but his presence rates only a passing mention.
September 2023
Qantas lawyer Andrew Finch makes his mark
Only three weeks ago, Richard Goyder promised humility. Finch didn’t get his chairman’s memo.
Richard Goyder calls off search for Qantas’ black box
Goyder retains the confidence of shareholders and the board just like every AFL coach does right before they’re sacked.
Richard Goyder’s last supper
Six weeks before the company’s AGM, members of the Qantas board are in more shit than a sewage farm duck.
- Updated
Vanessa Hudson, queen of footnotes
The Qantas board has not disclosed any of the particulars of Vanessa Hudson’s defined benefit scheme entitlements to shareholders.
Oh brother, I’m back in the American heartland
Billionaire Anthony Pratt takes the Rear Window columnist to Kentucky, where he finds a Democrat governor campaigning in Republican territory.
Christine Holgate’s Australia Post jihad resumes
The former Australia Post CEO should find alternative means to soothe her wounded pride.
- Updated
Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher joins the jet set
Gallagher is touring the world on the shareholder dime like he’s the long-lost brother of Liam and Noel from Oasis.
How Qantas fell to earth
New CEO Vanessa Hudson takes over an airline that makes more money than ever but is the most hated brand in the country. How did it get to this?
Joyce’s parmesan waft trumps Goyder’s humility cologne
If the Qantas chairman had any balls at all, he would voluntarily put himself up for election at the AGM on November 3.
Hudson to focus on customers after Joyce’s abrupt exit
But questions remain about how the airline’s board has handled growing reputational damage and allegations the company engaged in misleading conduct.