Opinion
Qantas turned off my microphone at the AGM. Here’s what I think
My sin was to challenge the morality of board decisions. But it is the company that needs to relearn what the spirit of Australia means.
Chris MaxworthyQantas shareholderNov 8, 2023 – 12.41pm
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At last week’s annual meeting of Qantas, board chairman Richard Goyder
directed that my microphone be cut off during questions from the floor.
My sin was that I questioned the morality of board decisions: the illegality of Qantas shedding 1700 ground handling staff; the ACCC’s prosecution of Qantas for allegedly selling 8000 ghost flights; and Goyder’s approval for Alan Joyce’s $17million share sale. What a trifecta.
Shareholders were welcome at the Qantas AGM. Questions not so much. Jow Armao Goyder’s initial reply was: “I have absolutely zero concern about the ethics of the [board members] here.” My reply was that having had the High Court back the Federal Court decision on the TWU members, “you might have justified it at the time on a commercial basis, but we are paying for your lack of ethics now”.
I moved on to Goyder’s approval of Joyce’s sale of his $17 million of Qantas stock. Joyce received his parcel away before the ACCC announcement that it was pursuing Qantas over the ghost flights. This was too much for Goyder, and he demanded that my microphone be switched off. Jeers and calls of “shame on you” spread throughout the venue. I pointed to the board and added “shame on all of you”.
After 40 years as an investor, that Qantas meeting was the worst I have attended. It was carefully scripted, with an excess of security staff and board members who looked ill at ease with their owners. What the board knew, but the audience was yet to learn, was that the
remuneration report had been voted down by a stunning 83 per cent.
That result means that almost all shareholders, including the institutional holders of Qantas stock, have had enough of brand damage. Of the 178,000 owners in Qantas, just 160 shareholders control 80 per cent of the company; that is, holdings greater than $5 million. I am just one of the other 107,000 shareholders with fewer than 1000 shares.
Goyder’s petulant silencing of me has tainted his reputation. The meeting was a miserable experience for the board such that none – repeat none – of the members attended tea and sandwiches with their owners after the formalities. Goyder had stated that the board could spare “five to 10 minutes to speak personally with shareholders”. It never happened – the first time in my experience.
Weak argument
Goyder’s plan to remain in place until November next year is now in tatters. CEO Vanessa Hudson and
board member Todd Sampson should also consider falling on their swords.
I am profoundly saddened at how the board and the executive management of Qantas have conducted themselves.
Witness the
complicated and weak argument explained at the annual meeting as its defence with the ACCC. Facing heavy fines and a competition watchdog prepared to pursue Qantas under the Trade Practices Act, the fresh argument is that booking a Qantas flight is not really a good but an array of rights. I have never seen that explained in a Qantas advertisement!
Qantas has been adept at channelling national sentiment to build up a profitable customer base. But Australians are not mugs. We have a healthy scepticism of national leaders and businesses that do not match up to our collective sense of what is fair and ethical.
Qantas was a national institution, and the distinctive branding of the Flying Kangaroo previously generated pride among Australians. But that sentiment has long gone. Price gouging, political special pleading to exclude competition, delays in refreshing the fleet, hard practices with Qantas frequent flyer points, and acting as a monopolist – that is not the spirit of Australia.
From here on, the senior management must work at rebuilding Qantas’ social licence. It needs to be real and tangible, with marketing pushed to the rear. Real answers, genuine care and not taking patronage for granted, not just cozying up to the influential and powerful through
access to the Chairman’s Lounge. No more playing fast and loose with definitions of what a flight is, or the nature of the customer relationship.
Up to $16 million of Joyce’s recent performance incentives are within the board’s control to claw back now. If the board wants to restore the airline’s reputation, then a starting point would be to repudiate a large portion of these bonus incentives. In the court of public opinion, that would receive strong backing, and show that the board is now more in tune with the real spirit of Australia