I deserved $4.2m payout says Toomey

By LOUISA CLEAVE

Former high-flying airline executive Gary Toomey believes he deserves every cent of his $4.2 million Air New Zealand payout.

Mr Toomey resigned as the airline's chief executive in October after nine months in the job. He has been unemployed since.

His payout was rumoured at the time to be about $2 million. However, the company's annual report shows Mr Toomey received more than double that amount.

"I don't feel I need to defend it in any way other than to say that was the base upon which I came on board," Mr Toomey said yesterday.

He said the $4.2 million package would be considered small by American standards.

"But I guess if you're working in a clerical job it might seem a lot. It's all about the marketplace."

Mr Toomey was a former head of finance at Qantas and a joint managing director of the Australian airline before coming to New Zealand.

"I left a job which was paying well over a million dollars a year and came to an organisation which obviously had major problems, and which is now being clearly demonstrated through no fault of myself or the management.

"Basically, through reluctance of shareholders and Government to execute the plan we put in place I find myself without a job."

Mr Toomey said he was paid in Australian dollars, which would have had an impact on the figure.

The figure included his regular salary in the period before he left, he said, and the previous year's bonus.

A similar payout was made to another former top executive two years ago. Former managing director Jim McCrea left the airline with $4 million, after a contract dispute and 44 years of service. His payout was made up of salary, superannuation, accrued leave and a restraint of trade payment.

Mr Toomey said he had no plans to leave New Zealand unless the right opportunity came along.

"I don't want to keep moving. It's a very nice place to live and the people here are nice. But obviously the larger corporate jobs are fairly few and far between so the opportunities aren't as prolific as they might be somewhere else."

* Mr Toomey quit Air New Zealand just after a Government bailout of $885 million was announced.

Six directors who resigned on the eve of the bailout told the acting chairman, Dr Jim Farmer, QC, that they would not accept a retirement allowance despite being able to draw three times their annual fees as a retirement benefit.