Pressure on Qantas board to cut Alan Joyce’s golden handshake

Qantas is under pressure to claw back some of Alan Joyce’s controversial bonuses after a 15-year career during which the chief executive was paid an extraordinary $125m.

Qantas chairman Richard Goyder says the airline will consider whether to claw back executive bonuses paid to Alan Joyce amid a furore over the carrier allegedly selling tickets for cancelled flights.

“If you look at our remuneration report, there’s provisions for clawbacks,” Mr Goyder told The Australian. “One of the reasons Qantas’s remuneration has been strongly supported by shareholders is it’s very transparent how it works.

“And secondly, there’s been very close alignment between outcomes for executives and outcomes for shareholders.

“And so that’ll all play out as we go forward.”

Mr Goyder said he had held limited meetings with investors, but expected to hold talks with several in the next few days.

Asked if Qantas could face a “strike” on remuneration at its annual general meeting, he said: “Who knows what will happen there. That’ll play out. But again the remuneration scheme at Qantas is pretty transparent and the ACCC (case) is an allegation at the moment. What is known is Qantas has just recorded record profits and there’s a whole lot of things that are actually going well in the business.”

Qantas is under pressure from shareholders to recover some of Mr Joyce’s bonuses after a 15-year career during which the chief executive was paid $125m.

Australian Shareholders’ Association chief executive Rachel Waterhouse said “potentially” more heads needed to roll at the flag carrier’s board over the handling of a string of crises, including Mr Joyce’s golden handshake of $24m.

Ms Waterhouse said questions remained over board oversight of Mr Joyce’s remuneration package. She said the departure of Mr Joyce was a “good start”, but more action was needed by Qantas to improve transparency.

“There are questions about how much awareness of issues there was at the board level and how much oversight there was over decisions of remuneration,” Ms Waterhouse said.

Fidelity International head of investments Paul Taylor said Qantas may be contemplating more changes at the board level, but it was not something that should be rushed.

“I can understand the need for a fresh start, but you would not want to have a new chief executive and chair at the same time,” Mr Taylor said.

Ms Waterhouse said questions also needed to be asked about whether Mr Goyder had the time to devote to oversight given his other directorial duties. Mr Goyder also is chairman of Woodside Energy and the Australian Football League Commission.

Mr Goyder has ruled out stepping down from the embattled airline, saying he was “fully committed” to the role. Mr Goyder said it was important he remained in the chairman’s role amid a transition from Mr Joyce to new chief executive Vanessa Hudson.

Forager Funds chief investment officer Steve Johnson said Mr Joyce’s departure was a logical move as “Qantas attempts to turn its public relations nightmare around”. But he said there was no need for sackings at the top of the airline.

“We are not looking at a situation where you will need to fire 20 people,” Mr Johnson said. “But I think you will see more changes at the customer level in terms of refunds for customers.”

Alan Joyce, Vanessa Hudson and Qantas Group chairman Richard Goyder.

Fidelity’s Mr Taylor said Qantas needed to regain its social ­licence following the recent controversies involving refunds and cancelled fights. “The brand has been damaged, but it is not something that they could not recover from in time,” Mr Taylor said.

He said while Mr Joyce’s remuneration package had been controversial, his entire career with the flag carrier had to be considered.

“When you reflect on it, he has probably done more good than bad,” Mr Taylor said.

“Nobody is perfect and you have to realise he operated in a super tough industry.”

Tourism industry leaders including Flight Centre Travel Group managing director Graham Turner have paid tribute to Mr Joyce’s tenure at the airline.

“He led Qantas through the most challenging government restriction period the industry has ever faced and has also helped pioneer initiatives that will benefit travellers long into the future, including ultra long-haul sunrise flights,” Mr Turner said.

“Flight Centre has worked very collaboratively with him and his senior team and we will continue to do so. While there has inevitably been some turbulence along the way and we have not always agreed with the decisions that have been made, we have maintained a close and positive relationship with Alan and his people throughout his tenure.”

Accor Pacific chief executive Sarah Derry said: “Qantas is an iconic Australian brand and Alan Joyce has made a significant contribution towards its global success. Accor would like to acknowledge Alan’s achievements for the travel industry.”

Mr Joyce emailed staff on Tuesday morning to inform them of his decision, saying it had been a “tremendous honour” to lead an airline that had been operating successfully for over 100 years.

“There have been lots of highs and lows over that period and we’ve lived through a few of both lately – but the airline keeps flying steadily with an eye on the horizon because of the thousands of professionals who stand behind it,” Mr Joyce wrote.