The former Business Council of Australia president said the company had spent a great deal of time attempting to satisfy the often divergent demands of stakeholders.
He noted the emergence of lucrative jobs at private equity firms"out of the public gaze"as a challenge to public companies looking to attract appropriate talent.
Last week,corporate governance and shareholder advisory firm ISS advised shareholders to vote against the company's remuneration plan, saying it was"excessive",had poorly disclosed targets and the chairman and chief executive's compensation was"very high".
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Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott earned $6.5 million in bonuses for the 2019 financial year (made up of cash,performance-based shares and restricted shares),86.6 per cent of his achievable benefits. Mr Chaney's fees came in at $785,000.
Just over 21 per cent of shareholders followed the proxy adviser's direction,narrowly falling short of the 25 per cent threshold needed to register a strike against Wesfarmers'remuneration report. If a company gets two strikes in consecutive years,it triggers a further vote on whether to spill the board of directors.
Mr Chaney blamed the company's foreign shareholders for the significant vote against the package,saying Australian institutional shareholders had largely voted in favour of the motion.