Rio Tinto’s senior Australian director Simon McKeon AO has vowed to ensure the miner rebuilds its relationship with and influence over the nation that delivers the bulk of its earnings as investors lobbed a big protest vote against its remuneration report.

More than 60 per cent of votes were cast against the remuneration report at Thursday’s shareholder meeting in response to lucrative exit packages given to former Rio chief Jean-Sebastien Jacques and two other executives in the wake of the Juukan Gorge scandal.