Qantas CEO salary in perspective
Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson's pay has been in the spotlight after the airline's data breach and subsequent reputation repair. Her base salary was raised to $1.7 million in September 2025, and her total remuneration for the 2024–25 financial year reached A$6.3 million, including a short-term bonus of $2.04 million that was trimmed by $250,000 as a penalty for the breach.
To understand how that stacks up, we compare it to the national full-time average. According to the ABS Average Weekly Earnings, May 2026, full-time adult ordinary-time earnings average $2,083.70 per week, or about $108,352 per year. The Qantas CEO's base salary is roughly 15.7 times that figure. Her total package is about 58 times the average.
A resident take-home sketch
If you earn the national full-time average of $108,352, your 2026–27 tax bill would be roughly $24,667 (including the 2% Medicare levy), leaving about $83,685 take-home pay. That's a comfortable living in most parts of Australia, though housing costs in Sydney and Melbourne can eat into it.
Now consider the Qantas CEO's base salary of $1.7 million. Using the same tax rates, the tax and Medicare levy would be about $738,000, leaving around $962,000. On total remuneration of $6.3 million, tax would be about $2.9 million, leaving roughly $3.4 million. These are simple estimates; actual tax may vary with deductions and the Medicare levy surcharge for high-income earners without private hospital cover.
How the average is set
The ABS publishes Average Weekly Earnings twice a year, for May and November. The May 2026 release shows the full-time adult ordinary-time average at $2,083.70 per week. This is the figure we use as the 'line' on this site. It's a mean, not a median, so it can be pulled up by high earners like CEOs. The full-time median, from the ABS Employee Earnings and Hours survey (August 2025), is about $90,532 per year. The all-employees median is about $74,100. These give a better sense of what a typical worker earns.
Place a salary on the line to see where your pay sits relative to the national average.
State and territory averages
Full-time averages vary across Australia. The highest is the Australian Capital Territory at about $119,090, followed by Western Australia at $115,825. New South Wales is $109,658, Victoria $106,137, Queensland $106,064, South Australia $102,450, the Northern Territory $103,173, and Tasmania $96,008. Even the highest state average is still far below the Qantas CEO's base salary.
States and territories has more detail on regional differences.
The minimum wage and awards
From 1 July 2026, the national minimum wage is $26.44 per hour, or $1,004.90 per week on a 38-hour week, amounting to about $52,255 per year. Award minimums rose by 4.75% from that date. The Qantas CEO's base salary is over 32 times the minimum wage. This highlights the vast gap between executive pay and the lowest-paid workers.
Industry context
Qantas is in the transport, postal and warehousing industry. The ABS Average Weekly Earnings, May 2026, shows full-time adult ordinary-time earnings in that industry at $2,083.70 nationally (all industries), but specific industry figures are available. The CEO's pay is not representative of the industry average, which is much closer to the national average.
Industry medians provides a deeper look at pay by sector.
Conclusion
The Qantas CEO salary, whether base or total remuneration, sits far above the national full-time average, the median, and the minimum wage. While executive pay is set by boards and market forces, it's useful to benchmark it against the earnings of ordinary Australians. The average worker earning $108,352 takes home about $83,685 after tax; the CEO takes home roughly $962,000 on base salary alone. That's a difference of over 11 times in take-home pay.
For more on how these figures are calculated, see How the figures are set.