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Qantas CEO Alan Joyce will leave his job immediately in the wake of a political furore over the airline's profits and service.

Mr Joyce advised the board he was bringing forward his retirement by two months to "help the company accelerate its renewal", Qantas announced on Tuesday.

CEO-designate Vanessa Hudson will assume the role of managing director and group CEO on Wednesday.

"In the last few weeks, the focus on Qantas and events of the past make it clear to me that the company needs to move ahead with its renewal as a priority," Mr Joyce said.

"The best thing I can do under these circumstances is to bring forward my retirement and hand over to Vanessa and the new management team now, knowing they will do an excellent job."

He said he was proud of his 15 years at the helm of the national carrier.

"There have been many ups and downs, and there is clearly much work still to be done, especially to make sure we always deliver for our customers," Mr Joyce said.

"But I leave knowing that the company is fundamentally strong and has a bright future."

His decision comes after a horror week for Qantas, which has been marked by a Senate grilling on delays and warnings that the airline faces a potential $250 million fine.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it was taking court action after Qantas allegedly advertised tickets for flights that had already been cancelled.

The company is reviewing the allegations made by the consumer watchdog and has acknowledged its standards "fell well short" as the airline emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last month Qantas announced a record pre-tax profit of $2.47 billion for the past financial year, after recording a loss of almost $2 billion the previous year.

Soon after, it came under pressure to pay back the money it received from the federal government at the height of the pandemic.

It received $2.7 billion from taxpayers, including $900 million from the JobKeeper program.

Qantas chairman Richard Goyder thanked Mr Joyce for his leadership.

"Alan has always had the best interests of Qantas front and centre, and today shows that," he said.

Labor senator Tony Sheldon, who has led calls for Qantas to be more accountable, said Mr Goyder "should go next".

"The board has backed Joyce's behaviour at every step and must be held equally accountable for the disgraceful state of the company," Senator Sheldon said.

ACTU president Michele O'Neil said the airline should next dump its "culture of profit over people".

Shareholders will formally vote on the appointment of Ms Hudson as managing director at the company's annual general meeting in November.

Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said he looked forward to working with the new CEO and having new "labour hire loophole" laws passed.

"Qantas is a company that has been using the labour hire loophole in a pretty extraordinary way and my objective is the make sure that people at Qantas are paid fairly," Mr Burke told reporters in Canberra.

The federal government is also facing questions over whether it deliberately favoured Qantas in a decision to knock back extra flights sought by Qatar Airways.

Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needed to explain the "national interest" grounds, calling for an inquiry into the decision-making process.

© AAP 2023

The number of animals seized by or surrendered to the RSPCA is on the rise in Victoria.

The authority investigated more than 10,000 reports of animal cruelty and took more than 2569 animals from their owners in the 2022/23 financial year.

That's a jump of more than 20 per cent compared with the previous 12 months.

If cases keep rising at the current rate, the number of animals being cared for in 2027 will have more than doubled in a decade.

It is a worrying trend and there are many factors behind the jump, according to RSPCA Victoria's chief inspector Michael Stagg.

The most common type of cruelty report is about a lack of water, food or shelter, followed by other welfare concerns such as sanitary living conditions.

"Cost-of-living pressures may be impacting people's ability to care for their pets, whether it be their ability to provide suitable food or their ability to pay for necessary medical care," Mr Stagg said.

"Many people also became first-time pet owners during the pandemic and may need further information or support to help them understand how to care for their animals, such as providing sanitary living conditions, grooming or preventative health measures."

He said that over the past year there had also been many large-scale seizures or surrenders, making it even harder to find room and resources to care for animals in shelters already near capacity.

The local government area with the highest number of surrenders or seizures was Melton in Melbourne's west with 260 animals taken, followed by Latrobe Council in Gippsland with 116, and Ararat in western Victoria with 81.

The highest number of cruelty reports was in Greater Geelong in western Victoria with 550, then Casey in Melbourne's southeast with 508, and Hume in Melbourne's northwest with 414.

© AAP 2023

Steve Harwell, the longtime frontman of the Grammy-nominated pop rock band Smash Mouth that was behind the megahit All Star, has died. He was 56.

The band's manager, Robert Hayes, said Harwell "passed peacefully and comfortably" on Monday morning surrounded by family and friends at his home in Boise, Idaho. The cause of death was acute liver failure, Hayes said in a statement.

Smash Mouth is also known for hits including "Walkin' On The Sun and Then The Morning Comes.

"Steve Harwell was a true American Original. A larger than life character who shot up into the sky like a Roman candle," Hayes said.

"Steve should be remembered for his unwavering focus and impassioned determination to reach the heights of pop stardom."

"His only tools were his irrepressible charm and charisma, his fearlessly reckless ambition," Hayes said, adding: "Steve lived a 100 per cent full-throttle life. Burning brightly across the universe before burning out."

"He will be greatly missed by those who knew and loved him," he said.

Born in California in 1967, Harwell performed in a rap group called F.O.S. (Freedom of Speech) before forming Smash Mouth in 1994. The band released two platinum albums on Interscope Records, their ska-fuelled 1997 debut and 1999's Astro Lounge. The second album featured some of the band's biggest hits, including the Grammy-nominated, platinum single All Star, which appeared in the movie Shrek alongside their cover of the Monkees' I'm a Believer.

Humour was a driving force behind Smash Mouth's success, and at the forefront was Harwell's playful alt-rock voice and persona. He made a cameo in 2001 comedy film Rat Race, and had a well-documented friendship with the Food Network chef and host Guy Fieri.

On Monday, tributes began pouring in. Fieri wrote on Instagram: "To my brutha Steve RIP. Today is a sad day, I will miss my friend."

NSYNC 's Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone also shared short homages.

"I'm truly sorry for the difficult battle you had to fight," Kirkpatrick posted on Instagram. "You were an amazing soul and will be deeply missed."

Fatone said he had known Harwell for a long time.

"Opened for NSync and even was my wedding singer at my wedding," wrote Fatone.

"Hopefully people out there that are dealing with addiction. get the right help that they need."

TV host Carson Daly published a two-part statement on Instagram, detailing the first time he met Harwell in 1995, when he was a DJ on JOME in San Jose and Smash Mouth was a new band.

"In better days, Steve was a force of a frontman & lived the life of 50 men," Daly wrote.

"He brought joy to millions with his music and his legacy will thankfully live on."

"Rest in peace Steve Harwell," comedian Tom Green tweeted.

"I remember hanging with you back in the MTV days you were always super cool and an amazing talent - my condolences to your family and friends."

Harwell retired from performing and left Smash Mouth in 2021. The band continued to tour with Zach Goode as the singer and released a statement at the time saying Harwell had been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy eight years earlier.

He had suffered "nonstop serious medical setbacks including heart failure as well as acute Wernicke Encephalopathy".

Harwell will be cremated in Boise and buried in San Jose, California, alongside his mother, Hayes said.

© AP 2023