SmartCompany’s most-read stories of 2022

2022 was the year we were meant to bounce back strongly from COVID-19 and properly kick off the Roaring Twenties. 

Instead, we began the year in self-imposed Omicron lockdowns, and COVID-19 never really left us all year: indeed with almost all restrictions easing, this year saw many more pandemic fatalities in Australia, 16,734 deaths vs 2226 in 2020 and 2021 combined. 

As if that wasn’t enough, the inflation dragon well and truly scorched us, with inflationary pressures and rapid interest rate rise putting a major dampener on the economy in the second half of the year, leading to a wave of insolvencies, closures and collapses. 

And then there was the ongoing crypto winter, with 30,000 Australians trapped in the FTX debacle, and local players DigitalSurge and Skyftx catching a big cold in recent weeks.

It was a year of ups and downs. And no more so than at the flying kangaroo. SmartCompany‘s two most-viewed stories of the year came within weeks of each other in the midst of our national airline’s winter of discontent. 

As Qantas battled multiple PR crises the writer and broadcaster Phillip Adams demanded CEO Alan Joyce remove the national airline’s ‘Spirit of Australia’ tagline — which Adams had penned as a copywriter — from all branding immediately. 

Weeks later the CEO’s $19 million Sydney mansion was egged and strewn with toilet paper as the airline’s daily traveller chaos continued. As someone who spent four days wearing the same clothes and panicking about my missing kilt after Qantas lost my bag en route to my sister’s wedding in August, I can certainly empathise with the protestors. 

Providing something of a case study in coolness under fire, Joyce held his nerve, got the airline’s baggage handling (mostly) back on track and reduced delays and cancellations by year’s end.

Qantas bounced back into a profit of $1 billion for the first half of FY22-23 alone. And despite the debacles, Joyce pocketed $4 million of the airline’s Recovery Retention Plan, taking his salary last year to $9 million. Nice work if you can get it.

Our most-read stories of the year included technology reporter Tegan’s searing takedown of Elon Musk’s approach to running Twitter, business reporter David’s forensic unpacking of bonus tax deductions for SMEs in the March budget, and climate reporter Emma’s revelation that new EV battery tech could see future drivers go 1000km on a 10-minute charge. Plug me in!

Thanks for reading, we’ll see you in 2023.

The 10 most-read stories on SmartCompany in 2022

1. Qantas tagline author tells CEO to remove it from all branding, as airline battles multiple PR crises

2. Alan Joyce’s $19 million mansion egged as Qantas customer reports a 22-hour wait time on hold

3. Atlassian is 20 years old and unprofitable — the market has its valuation all wrong, says Adam Schwab

4. Hey Elon, stop treating Twitter like an early-stage startup but with zero benefits, says Tegan Jones

5. State-by-state: The trading hours for the Queen’s National Day of Mourning

6. How much do Uber drivers really make? A new study sheds light on the gig economy

7.  The ATO has put professional business owners on notice. Here’s what you need to know

8. US burger chain Wendy’s is coming to Australia

9. New EV battery technology to see drivers go 1000km on a 10-minute charge

10. Australian SMEs granted 20% “bonus” tax deductions on tech upgrades and digital skills training