New research from the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) has revealed 10 CEOs in the ASX 200 are making more than $10 million a year, with Qantas’ chief executive, Alan Joyce, leading the pack.
As Australia’s highest-paid CEO, Mr Joyce pocketed $23,876,351 over the 2017–18 financial year.
He only just nabbed the top spot, with Macquarie Group’s Nicholas Moore making $23,855,580 over the same period.
Treasury Wine Estate’s Michael Clarke has come in third place, having banked $19,024,334.
According to the report, the median realised pay for ASX 100 CEOs rose to $4.5 million over the 2017–18 financial year, with realised pay including the actual value of equity that vested during the year.
It meant that the ASX 100’s CEOs hit their second successive record for median realised pay.
The report also revealed that just one ASX 100 CEO did not receive a bonus over the period, a record low despite the banking royal commission fallout.
According to ACSI’s CEO, Louise Davidson, “the way bonuses are being handed out suggests there is a culture of entitlement whereby supposedly ‘at risk’ pay is not very risky at all”.
She explained that bonuses do take poor conduct into consideration.
“These payments occurred in a year when the royal commission was in full swing, revealing evidence that executives were not being held accountable for poor conduct, and in the wake of soaring ‘first strike’ votes against remuneration reports,” the CEO continued.
Ms Davidson concluded: “Clearly, corporate Australia is not getting the message that bonus payments should be variable and awarded for stretch performance, rather than being fixed pay under another name. This is a failure of both discipline and leadership.”
Weighing in on Twitter, the secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, commented that “while Australian workers experience record-low growth, it’s another story for the top end of town”.
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