Questions asked at 2022 Air New Zealand AGM.

September 22, 2022

Here is the text of 14 live written questions lodged during today's Air New Zealand AGM, although those in italics below were not read out even though announcer/moderator "Kim" said on multiple occasions "there are not further questions online", which was false. Disappointing to only have 4 questions read out.

Did any of the 5 main proxy advisers - ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS and NZSA - recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions? Which of these proxy advisers are covering us and has their been a material proxy protest vote against any of today's resolutions? Will you disclose the proxy votes before the debate on today's resolutions so shareholders can ask questions about the reasons if there have been any protest votes?

Qantas hasn't paid a dividend for 3 years but recently launched a $400m on-market buyback. Given our shares are so cheap at A65c, what are the prospects of us launching an on-market buyback or do our financial metrics not allow this for the time being. Would we need approval from our banks or the New Zealand government to launch a buyback?

Sydney Airport was privatised earlier this year by a group of Australian super funds and private equity types. Has this change of ownership led to any noticeable increase in fees or adjustments to the operating model. If the same consortium launched a bid for Auckland Airport, would we lobby the government to block it, preferring Auckland Airport to remain a transparent public company with City of Auckland as the largest shareholder?

QANTAS has suffered unprecedented brand damage this year, after being found to have illegally and ruthlessly sacked hundreds of baggage handlers during the pandemic, plus cancelling hundreds of flights and regularly losing customer baggage. What lessons have we learnt from all of the flying kangaroo's stuff-ups?

I'm one of your Australian-based shareholders, living in Melbourne. We suffered the toughest and longest lock-downs in the world where Australians were at one point banned from returning home from India and Victorians were banned from crossing the boarder from NSW. Have Australian bookings been slower to recover than other countries because Australians were so scarred by their brutal lockdowns and have also seen enormous media coverage about various QANTAS stuff-ups and airport chaos, scaring them off flying anywhere?

Australia abandoned knights and dames decades ago. Could Dame Therese Walsh please explain the background of how she was knighted by a foreign power and what the change in British Monarch means for her, if anything. Given her rugby background, does she also agree that Australia was robbed by the referee in the recent Bledisloe Cup tie in Melbourne with that ridiculous time-wasting call 90 seconds from full time. Has the Bledisloe been good for our business this year?

Why is Jonathan Mason planning to step down from the board at the 2023 AGM. Is there a 9 year tenure limit in place given that he joined the board in 2014. Who will take over as chair of the important remuneration committee when Jonathan retires and could Jonathan explain when the rem committee will next meet to decide a bonus for CEO Greg Foran.

Given the interesting discussions across a range of topics today, including this NZ govt loan resolution, could the chair undertake to make a full transcript of proceedings available on the company's website? We have produced webcast archives since 2020 but never done an AGM transcript. The likes of ASX-listed and Australian-based Nine Entertainment, AGL, ASX, ANZ, CIMIC, Domino's and Lend Lease all produced their 1st AGM transcripts in 2021. Will you follow suit today?

Could Jonathan comment further on what aspects of the CEO's STI metrics are not disclosed and why is the chair also sitting on the rem committee?

The 2021-22 Air New Zealand annual report notes that our largest shareholder with 51%, is "Her Majesty The Queen In Right of New Zealand acting by and through her Minister of Finance". Have we formally transitioned the controlling government shareholding to King Charles III and is he aware of today's resolutions dealing with further loans and support from the Crown? Did the PM discuss Air New Zealand with the King when attending his mother's funeral in London this week?

Has the Crown voted on the resolution related to the government loan?

Is Alison effectively the deputy chair given she chaired the item of business related to the chair's re-election earlier in the meeting? What does Dame Therese think about appointing a formal deputy chair and is the audit committee chair officially the second most senior position on the board? Without a deputy chair, who leads the annual performance review of the chair and does the chair do an annual performance review of all the other directors?

It is disappointing to have no general questions from the floor in Auckland today, given that we have more than 50,000 shareholders. How many independent shareholders do you estimate are in the room and please give them another rev to get up and participate in the most important governance meeting of the year? (there was subsequently about 6 questions from the floor in general business at the end, although no one took up the initial invitation)

Given the interesting discussions across a range of topics today, could the chair undertake to make a full transcript of proceedings available on the company's website? We have produced webcast archives since 2020 but never done an AGM transcript. The likes of ASX-listed and Australian-based Nine Entertainment, AGL, ASX, ANZ, CIMIC, Domino's and Lend Lease all produced their 1st AGM transcripts in 2021. Will you follow suit today?

Search:

Questions asked at 2022 Air New Zealand AGM.

September 22, 2022