Alan Joyce to earn millions in bonuses and stay as head of Qantas until at least the end of 2023
Tory Shepherd
Qantas boss Alan Joyce will pocket millions in bonuses despite angry customers over service failures, lost bags, canceled flights and union anger over staff salaries.
Joyce will also remain as chief executive officer until at least the end of next year, Qantas chairman Richard Goyder confirmed at the airline's annual general meeting today.
Joyce's take-home payout last financial year was $2.27 million, up from $1.98 million a year earlier.
On top of that base salary, shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favor of awarding him a performance entitlement bonus of about $4 million. They also voted in favor of him receiving long-term rights of about $5m.
He has suspended the conversion of those rights and turned them into shares for now. Other short-term bonuses, suspended during the pandemic, can also be added depending on performance.
Goyder took the opportunity at AGM to denounce the federal government's planned industrial relations shift, saying multi-employer talks would "effectively lead to centralized wage fixing", which in turn would affect productivity.
The Transport Workers Union called AGM a "joke and a wasted opportunity", as the board would give Joyce a cash bonus even if shareholders voted against the bonus distribution. TWU National Secretary, Michael Kaine, said: It was absolutely impossible for Joyce not to go much richer.
Shareholders should be able to cast a genuine voice on the reinstatement of illegally fired workers, costly legal battles, and a post-Joyce future for the tarnished airline.
Goyder also warned that a new Covid wave could see another spike in sick leave, though he said there was more resilience in the system now to cope.
Ahead of the meeting, Qantas issued a statement saying its performance had improved after it "bottomed off" in July.
Flight cancellations occurred on 2.2% of flights, which is below pre-Covid levels, the airline said. In June, 7.5% of flights were cancelled. Bags that were "mishandled" accounted for six out of 1,000 passengers, which was "almost" back to pre-Covid levels. Twice as many mishandled in April.
From AAP:
Queensland's main coal-fired power station connected to the national grid has been shut down due to an equipment failure, sparking renewed concerns about blackouts in Sunshine State.
State-owned power generator CS Energy said all four units at the Callide power plant, near Biloela, went offline at one point on Friday morning.
One unit has been out of service since the massive explosion in May 2021, then another turbine unit was shut down as a precaution after the cooling tower partially collapsed on Monday.
CS Energy said a third turbine unit tripped during routine testing on Tuesday, while the Mining and Energy Union said a fourth unit tripped on Friday morning.
The company has confirmed that the third unit automatically tripped after the release of high-temperature gas during a scheduled test.
"In addition to the response of the unit's automated control system, the team on site acted quickly to make the unit safe," said a CS Energy statement on Friday.
"No one was injured and an investigation into the incident is being completed."
The South Australian government has outlined an ambitious plan to ban more single-use plastics, with nearly everything to be done over the next three years, the AAP has reported.
The government will draft legislation to cover a wide range of items, with the first target including single-use plastic plates and bowls set to be banned in September next year.
Plastic coffee cups and lids, production bags, and single-use food containers will be cut in the following year, along with a number of other items.
The latest wave will ban plastic fruit stickers, soy sauce and fish sauce containers, straws and cutlery from sticking to packaged foods from September 2025.
"With the dire predictions that our oceans will contain more plastic than fish by 2050, the time for single-use plastic is over," said Environment Minister Susan Close.
“Disposable plastics are often used for a moment but they last a lifetime in our environment.
"Switching away from single-use items has been welcomed by South Australians, and our community consultation has no doubt that the public is expecting more action for more goods."
Conservationists are working to save the unique fish that are at risk of dying when muddy water rushes into the Murray River, the AAP has reported.
Murray's cod and crayfish suffocate and jump out of the river gasping for clean air in a phenomenon known as hypoxic black water, where oxygen levels drop as bacteria suck oxygen from polluted floodwater.
Heavy flooding continues in Echuca-Moama and other Victoria-NSW border towns after the Murray River hit a record high in October.