Why it’s time for Qantas chair Richard Goyder to eject

At Coles they called him “the silent assassin.” It’s a nicer nickname than many give Richard Goyder now, having chaired Qantas during its self-righteous period of damaging its brand through a succession of dramas with customers and staff.

Unions, some politicians, superannuation groups and many company insiders believe it’s time for the “nice guy but totally hands off” chairman to step down.

Insiders say Goyder was shocked on Wednesday when Qantas lost, in a unanimous High Court ruling, a bid to overturn a decision that it had illegally fired 1700 baggage handling staff during Covid-19.

It’s not the first time Goyder has failed to read a situation. Just a year ago when Qantas was neck deep in its customer services disasters, he was calling Alan Joyce the “the best CEO in Australia by a length of a straight,” and continued to defend him until Joyce himself called time on his career last week and suddenly left Qantas two months early.

Investors might applaud Qantas for its record $2.47bn profit but it’s done it at the expense of customers – becoming the nation’s most complained-about company – and at the expense of its loyal staff.

When it first emerged from Covid-19, Qantas’s problems were like many other airlines. It was cancelled flights, stranded customers, long queues, lost bags, and unanswered phone calls. But Joyce exacerbated the anger of his passengers by describing them as “not being match fit”. He then tried to put an end date on travel credits for flights cancelled during Covid-19 that passengers hadn’t been able to use.

Now the competition regulator has accused it of selling tickets for flights it had already cancelled and, of course, it has been found to have illegally fired its staff.

There is no doubt that Qantas – the airline that Australians really do love to love – is in the bad books for good reason and while the day-to-day blame sat with Joyce, it is up to the chairman to ensure the CEO is on the right path.

One insider says Goyder, who as a person is well liked, will be struggling with the negative publicity.

“He will be really challenged with this,” the insider said. “What I can see personally is that he is ineffective and avoids being accountable.”

Labor Senator Tony Sheldon. Picture: Glenn Campbell

Now he’s being held to account. ALP Senator Tony Sheldon declared: “The board has backed Joyce’s behaviour at every step and must be held equally accountable for the disgraceful state of the company.”

It’s the same criticism as was levelled at him during Goyder’s time running Wesfarmers, where he oversaw what many consider one of the most overpriced takeovers in the nation’s history – the $19.3bn takeover of supermarket giant Coles.

Goyder declined a request this week for an interview.

Back then the “silent assassin” nickname cropped up at Coles because he was notorious for being nice to people’s faces and then having them pushed out the door if it suited his purpose.

Goyder has many powerful positions. He is the current chair of Qantas, Woodside Energy, and the Australian Football League, and the former chief executive of Wesfarmers. Many people think he has misstepped – at a minimum – in all four roles.

Richard Goyder is chairman of the AFL Commission. Picture: Michael Klein

At Woodside his errors were less egregious, although a slow and clumsy process to hire CEO Meg O’Neill did put some investors off-side.

Goyder made the bizarre decision to allow former boss Peter Coleman to leave ahead of schedule after a 10-year stint, without announcing a permanent replacement in its top job.

O’Neill was installed as acting boss in April 2021 and it wasn’t until August that year she was won the top job on a permanent basis.

Goyder conceded at the time the succession process had been “slightly clunkier” than ideal due to the coronavirus pandemic.

One industry source said the move was part of a pattern.

“Goyder tends to not make decisions while an issue is simmering and waits far too long until there is a full-blown crisis before acting,” the source said.

He repeated this failure at the AFL by taking far too long to announce the replacement of Gillon McLachlan, although none were quite as bad as his years overdue successor for Joyce.

The dramas at Qantas have turned Goyder into a public figure of dislike, but he is not without his supporters.

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, who was rumoured to dislike Goyder due to AFL power ructions, says this is completely untrue.

The transition of Meg O’Neill to CEO of Woodside was considered by many as clumsy. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“Richard I have known for years,” says Kennett. “He is one of the most likeable chaps you could ever meet.”

He is also considered a powerbroker in Perth where he was educated, some 317 kilometres away from his family’s wheat and sheep farm in Tambellup.

And many investors still rate Goyder for chairing Qantas through difficult periods such as the global financial crisis and the pandemic.

Veteran investor Anton Tagliaferro says angry customers and politicians need to remember that it’s not the chairman’s job to be running the company.

“The role of the chairman is not to manage the company on a day-to-day basis. It’s not to roll his sleeves up and get involved on a day-to-day basis,” says Tagliaferro. “Normally the CEO puts forward a strategic plan and budgets and the chairman and the board had got a look at those in total and approve them and then their job is to act as custodians to make sure that the plan and strategy agreed on his being adhered to.”

As for whether Goyder has a track record of taking too long on CEO succession plans, Tagliaferro says it’s easy to “look at things with the benefit of hindsight,” and to say things should have been done differently.

“It’s difficult when you have a dominant CEO who’s really shaped the company, in his style of operation, I mean, the chairman’s role is to make sure that the shareholders interests are looked after and that the company has a strategic plan that the board agrees with.”