Alan Joyce’s whopping $21.4m payday could be slashed by two-thirds pending ACCC investigation

Qantas released its annual group report yesterday where it revealed that recently departed CEO Alan Joyce is illegible for a $21.4m pay day for FY23, but up to $14.4m could be in jeopardy.

The latter figure has been withheld from Joyce as the group awaits more detail from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) regarding an investigation into allegedly fraudulent advertising practices.

The report comes at a time where the airline is under massive amounts of public pressure and distrust.

So bad in fact, that industry bodies are calling for the chairman Richard Goyder to resign.

A release from the ‘Qantas News Room’ highlighted ACCC allegations against the airline as a root cause for the loss of public trust.

“We recognise the important role of the ACCC and the company has cooperated fully with its investigations, which only crystalised into material allegations when legal action was announced on 31 August this year,” it read.

In determining its executive pay, Qantas uses a ‘scorecard’ where it considers things like safety, customer satisfaction and emissions reduction.

Qantas says its operational safety performance remained strong in a year that the group doubled the number of passengers it carried to 46 million.

It also bettered its net emissions reduction target by 3 per cent and was more punctual than its major domestic competitor for 11 out of 12 months.

The group claimed that its satisfaction levels improved during the year, but it scored zero out of a possible 20 in this section.

In light of the ACCC’s investigation, the board said it understands shareholder and community concerns about them coinciding with executive pay outcomes. The board will withhold the balance of the FY23 short term incentive for senior executives while this matter progresses.

“There are already clawback provisions on significant amounts of remuneration awarded but not yet released that would be used if significant misconduct was ultimately found,” a Qantas statement said.

“In the case of Alan Joyce’s remuneration for FY23, in addition to $2.2 million in short term bonuses that have been withheld, a further $8.3 million of a total adjusted $21.4 million is subject to clawback should the Board determine that necessary.

“When combined with additional long-term incentives already granted, a total of $14.4 million is subject to malus and clawback if considered necessary.”

Alongside Joyce’s jackpot, it was revealed that the group’s new chief executive Vanessa Hudson, who operated as the chief financial officer up until Joyce’s departure, received $5.1m, while Goyder received $750,000.

Joyce’s early departure was predicated by a rigorous senate inquiry where the former CEO was on the backfoot against allegations of corruption, slot-hoarding, price gouging and influencing the government’s controversial decision to block additional capacity for Qatar Airways.

The Qantas board has faced pressure to minimise his enormous bonus as the ACCC continues its investigation and the group lost a high court case, proving that it illegally sacked almost 1700 highly unionised workers during the pandemic.