5 questions lodged at 2026 Aurizon (AZJ) hybrid AGM

Q1. In terms of AGM process, thank you for disclosing the proxies early to the ASX with the formal addresses and well done for achieving strong voting support on all resolutions. However, it is disappointing that you are not following the agenda today, instead dealing with all questions in one jumbled job lot, losing focus on important issues like remuneration and director elections. Do you abandon the agenda in board meetings and ask for questions on all items at once in the name of efficiency. Obviously not. Please respect the AGM process and follow the agenda next year. Sure, it might mean more questions overall but you only have to suffer one AGM each year so please do it properly.

Answer: “We'll take that as a comment,” said debutant Aurizon chair Tim Longstaff after the question wrangler badly butchered this question setting out the case for following the agenda at the AGM, like they do in board meetings. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q2. Aurizon is Tim Longstaff's first public company chairing role. Everyone has a first, although not usually as big and complex as our $6.4 billion company. How did we run the chair succession process? Was it handled entirely internally? Were there multiple candidates and did we consider any candidates who weren't currently on the Aurizon board?

Answer: The question wrangler did some minor tweaks and sensibly separated out Q3 below for a subsequent question. Aurizon wasn't ready for this question as new chair Tim Longstaff hand-balled it straight to NED Sarah Ryan without saying what role she played in the process and she seemed surprised to receive the hand-ball and didn't shed much light at all. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q3. What are the biggest changes in process, reporting, delegations and committee structures that Tim Longstaff has introduced since succeeding Tim Poole as chair?

Answer: The two Tims have had a seamless chair succession at Aurizon. New chair Tim Longstaff said his key decision was not to sell the network business but apart from that, governance changes have been small because Tim Poole (who is now chairing pokies giant Endeavour) ran a good show. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q4. Which recruitment firm assisted with the recruitment of our two new directors, Amanda McMillan and Andrew Adam, who are up for election for the first time today? Was it a genuinely competitive process with other candidates interviewed by the full board? Did either Amanda or Andrew know any of our existing directors or KMP before engaging with the recruitment process?

Answer: This was my highlight of the AGM. Two high quality new directors landed through separate recruitment processes run by two different firms with lots of competition and no mates network at play. More please. Good explanation from the new chair. Watch video of exchange via Twitter.

Q5. Here's a process suggestion for the new Tim that the old Tim wouldn't do. Will he include the headcount data in the poll results as Computershare does at its AGMs? And have you achieved a turn out rate of even 2% on the proxies. Roughly how many shareholders voted by proxy and how many turned up in person at today's hybrid AGM?

Answer: The question wrangler either failed to alert the chair there was a final online question or chair Tim Longstaff stuck with the script and ploughed through to shut the meeting. Watch this video evidence of the final question being ignored Twitter.

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