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The Qantas board’s performance under Goyder has drawn criticism from a spectrum of institutional investors including Airlie Funds Management’s head of Australian equities, Matt Williams. “The board has been slow to react to the problems as they’ve built up to become serious reputational and performance issues,” he says.

Williams says there needs to be renewal of the Qantas board. It raises the question then, who is best to help new CEO Vanessa Hudson pilot Qantas through its current headwinds? Is it Goyder?

There is concern among institutional investors that Goyder and the Qantas board didn’t challenge Joyce, who had been CEO for 15 years, enough. “It appears the board was captured by a long-serving CEO, who was a very dominant personality,” says Williams.

Many corporate governance experts expect Goyder will front the airline’s annual general meeting in November and step down next year.

If the appointment of a CEO is a board’s most important decision, then selecting a new chairman must rank as the next most crucial decision, if that is what happens at Qantas in the next 12 months.

At the three organisations that Goyder chairs there have been succession problems. At Woodside, the earlier than expected departure of Peter Coleman, who was replaced eventually by Meg O’Neill, was described by one stockbroking analyst as “shambolic”.

At Qantas, Hudson was elevated two months earlier than expected into the Qantas CEO role, after Joyce’s sudden decision to retire amid scandal.

And the replacement of AFL CEO Gill McLachlan became a soap opera. Goyder’s credibility took a hit after he failed to name a successor more than 12 months after McLachlan had announced his resignation. McLachlan’s replacement is Andrew Dillon.

In 2021, Goyder was asked if managing three chairmanships of large, complex organisations was too much for him. Of course, he said no.

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But with such a busy workload, there comes a risk to reputation when unexpected issues arise, such as a pandemic, a merger, or a scandal. Goyder has dealt with all of those at the three companies that he chairs.

In the same 2021 interview, Goyder denied that the pool of directors who sit on Australian boards are a cosy club. Instead, he said people get selected based on their reputation. “If you have a good reputation, it helps.”

It could be time for boldness from him in looking at his workload and stepping down from Qantas.