What will Richard Goyder, incoming chair of Qantas, bring to the airline? He joined the board late last year after more than a decade at Wesfarmers and will replace industrial relations warrior Leigh Clifford in the chairmanship in October.

Let’s run the ruler over his performance at Wesfarmers. There, Goyder helped destroy more than $4 billion of value. There was exorbitant $22 billion purchase of Coles in 2007 that required another $8 billion odd of investment. There was the $1.2 billion Homebase debacle in the UK, around $2 billion in losses, impairments and sackings at Target, not to mention $800-odd million at the now sold off Curragh coal mine in Queensland. This is apparently what passes for the business elite in Australia.

Goyder is also part of the close link between Wesfarmers and the Business Council, and he shares the contemptuous views of the business elite. He insists business would love to pay workers higher wages but they’re just not working hard enough — there needs to be a increase in productivity before anyone gets a pay rise. As Crikey has shown, recent increases in labour productivity have actually accompanied a fall in wages growth. 

For once we’re in raging agreement with the Financial Review where Tony Boyd wrote that his appointment “suggests that the pool of non-executive director talent in Australia is far too shallow.”