6 questions submitted at 2024 Woodside AGM

Q1. Why are we continuing to donate 6 figure sums to the major political parties? Since Richard Goyder joined the board we've contributed more than $1 million to the Labor, Liberal and National Parties, although the annual figure was down last year. This is poor governance and undermines public confidence in our democratic system. When are we going to join the other ASX20 companies likes BHP, CBA, Rio Tinto and Aristocrat and impose a complete ban on all political contributions? Could our two ex politicians on the board, Labor's Ben Wyatt and Liberal veteran Ian Macfarlane, please comment on why they believe these political donations should be continued when the majority of our peers have ceased this practice?

Answer: Chair Richard Goyder claimed they were no longer making donations, just paying to attend events. The two ex pollies on the board weren't invited to comment. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q2. CVs matter for professional directors. We all know what happened at Qantas but from an ESG and transparency point of view, could Richard Goyder comment on why he ended the practice of publicly disclosing the CEO's salary in the AFL annual report and why the AFL has twice renewed its Sportsbet contract as the AFL official gambling company during his time as AFL President? If he commits to not signing another AFL Sportsbet deal, I will reverse my online against vote on this resolution.

Answer: CEO Meg O'Neill shouldn't have been invited to chair this item, let alone point blank block Richard from answer the question. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. When Richard Goyder retired as Wesfarmers CEO in late 2017, he owned 351,664 shares which would be worth $23 million if still held today. There was another $16 million of LTI shares which may or may not have vested. Given this enormous Wesfarmers wealth, why has our chair only bought 26,163 shares during his 6 years as chair which on Monday were worth $749,046 with the stock wallowing at $28.63? It was at $31.38 on the day he was announced as chair-elect back in February 2017. The modest shareholding is dwarfed by the $4 million-plus in cash he's been paid by Woodside shareholders, including $841,108 last year which was well up on the $606,000 his predecessor Michael Chaney was paid in 2017, his final year as Woodside chair. Does My Goyder acknowledge that the share price has gone down during his 6 years as chair and why hasn't he invested more heavily in the stock, given his Wesfarmers riches and large cash fees to be chair? Will he commit to buying more shares?

Answer: The chair said you should not compare pre-tax and post-tax figure and also explained that he'd been extremely cautious when buying shares to avoid the perception he was using inside information. This doesn't wash after 6 years. Watch video of exchange via Twitter, plus see his specific explanation for his lack of share purchases.

Q4. Given the interesting discussions across a range of topics today, including on this climate action plan resolution, could the chair undertake to make an archived copy of the webcast plus a full transcript of proceedings available on the company's website? The likes of Nine, AGL, ASX, ANZ, Domino's and Lend Lease all began publishing AGM transcripts in 2021. When Ian Macfarlane and Ben Wyatt were serving in the Federal and WA parliaments respectively, they had the benefit of Hansard and weren't told to go back and search for video grabs of exchanges. Will you follow suit and publish a Hansard of today's discussion on your website for the benefit of the 619,000 Woodside shareholders who weren't able to participate today but would like to easily find out what happened?

Answer: Not asked.

Q5. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, including this climate action plan, could you please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against each item, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment on all resolutions and was a voluntary disclosure initiative adopted by the likes of Metcash, Altium, AUI, Dexus, Webjet, Tabcorp, Myer and ASX over the past 3 years. Chair, you agreed to do this at Qantas last year so will you match that transparency move today and disclose how many of our 620,000 retail shareholders voted for and against each item today.

Answer: Not asked. Sadly, they failed to deliver in these voting results. See the threadbare disclosure from Woodside and contrast it with what Richard Goyder did at Qantas last year.

Q6. Given the large protest vote today, will you commit to putting up the climate action plan for approval every year. Similarly, for greater accountability, will you follow BHP's lead and voluntarily put all directors up for election each year. The likes of Rio Tinto, News Corp and Treasury Wine Estates also do this.

Answer: Not asked. Also, watch how the proxy disclosure was held back until the very end of the meeting.

Copyright © 2024 The Mayne Report. All rights reserved

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