r/Anu

https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/higher-education-regulator-warned-over-anu-intervention-20260513-p5zw99

Maani Truu

Education correspondent

May 13, 2026 – 6.41pm

Legal advice provided to Australian National University’s council says that the tertiary education regulator’s attempt to steer the selection of top posts could trigger a court challenge, as experts warn the watchdog’s overreach risks compromising institutional independence.

The university’s 15-person governing body has been rocked by a wave of resignations since former foreign minister and chancellor Julie Bishop stepped down on Friday, attributing her decision to moves by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency to run the recruitment process for a new chancellor and vice chancellor.

A voluntary undertaking agreed to last month set up a process by which the regulator would handpick a panel to run the recruitment process for Bishop’s replacement when her term expired in December.

But independent advice provided by top legal firm Clayton Utz to Bishop on May 5 agreed with earlier advice to interim vice chancellor Rebekah Brown that the involvement of the regulator in the recruitment process exceeded its statutory powers and could be legally challenged.

“If TEQSA purported to impose a condition of that kind, it would be susceptible to a successful challenge in the Federal Court,” said the document, seen by The Australian Financial Review.

The regulator’s intervention after months of turmoil at the ANU has also sparked wider concerns for the future of university independence, with leading higher education expert Andrew Norton warning that the voluntary undertaking sets a “dangerous precedent”.

“If the regulator can appoint a chancellor, where does this stop?” he said.

The Albanese government welcomed the university’s announcement of an independent process to select the next chancellor.

But five of the seven ministerially appointed council members have quit since the undertaking was entered into, including former West Australian chief justice Wayne Martin, KC, who before his exit argued for the council to resist TEQSA’s “demands”.

In a letter sent to then pro chancellor Larry Marshall before a May 7 meeting, Martin said it was “clear beyond argument that the council has received legal advice to the effect that TEQSA’s various demands with respect to the council’s performance of its statutory obligations exceed the powers conferred upon TEQSA by the TEQSA act.

“Acts taken in excess of power are unlawful, and are often referred to by lawyers as an abuse of power, terminology which seems particularly apt to the present circumstances,” it continued.

Martin argued the TEQSA conditions, which he said were “imposed … by the use of coercive threats of unlawful conduct”, would prevent the council from performing its statutory obligations, which includes appointing the chancellor.

“Continued acquiescence in those demands would set a very bad precedent for the entire tertiary education sector,” Martin’s letter continued.

“These are not powers which the parliament has chosen to confer upon TEQSA.”

Norton said TEQSA was limited in what action it could take but went wrong by following a course of action “that they didn’t really have the power to do under the rules as they stand.

“If we establish the precedent that a voluntary undertaking can be used to require things that are not mandated by the threshold standards, then that is dangerous,” he said. “I really think this is a major mistake.”

His comments echo an earlier warning from University of Queensland chancellor Peter Varghese, who said TEQSA’s involvement in the ANU recruitment process was “part of a disturbing pattern of intrusions into the autonomy of universities”.

In a statement, a TEQSA spokesperson said the organisation “had not acted beyond its legislative remit in relation to the ANU and will continue to regulate in a proportionate, risk-based way, consistent with its legislated responsibilities”.

“The voluntary undertaking offered by the ANU and accepted by TEQSA facilitates the important process of recruiting the next chancellor, while our regulatory work and other investigations continue,” they said.

In an address to the ANU community on Tuesday, newly acting pro chancellor Andrew Metcalfe said the council had “much to do to rectify what has gone wrong” and would engage positively with regulators.

https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/julie-bishop-steps-down-as-anu-chancellor-20260508-p5zv0h

Phillip Coorey and Maani Truu

May 8, 2026

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has resigned as chancellor of the Australian National University, believing it was untenable to stay on until her term expired in December, due to what she called pernicious regulatory overreach.

Following a tumultuous period at the helm of the troubled institution, Bishop informed the university and the Albanese government on Thursday night of her decision. Her resignation was effective immediately.

She believed an intervention by the regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, to run the university council was unlawful, in that the TEQSA Act did not give the regulator that power it was exerting.

It also conflicted with the council’s statutory duties under the University Act. As part of the intervention, Bishop was unable to choose her successor.

“Following unprecedented and co-ordinated interference, the ANU Council is no longer able to discharge its legal and ethical obligations,” she told AFR Weekend.

“The higher education sector is at a crossroads of regulatory overreach in the governance of our institutions or autonomy and academic freedom.

“I fear the collateral from this regulatory overreach will be the next generation of students and staff.”

The regulator intervened following months of turmoil, marked by concerns over governance, internal culture and leadership.

Bishop, who took the role in 2020, was herself subject to a bullying claim, but it is understood an investigation by Vivienne Thom cleared her, finding no disclosable conduct.

Former KPMG chair Alison Kitchen resigned from the council on Anzac Day, also citing TEQSA overreach.

Education Minister Jason Clare released a brief but terse statement.

“I recognise her long public service,” he said of Bishop, adding that a process was in train involving the ANU and TEQSA to find a replacement.

ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher said the Canberra-based university needed to rebuild.

“The challenges facing ANU did not arise overnight, and rebuilding trust and confidence across the university community will take time and careful work,” she said.

“I have consistently said the university leadership and Council need to work openly and constructively with staff, students and the broader community to rebuild confidence and agree on a path forward.“
ACT independent senator David Pocock, who had been a strong critic of the university’s governance, said Bishop had acted in the best interests of the ANU by resigning.

“When things go so terribly wrong at the helm of such an important institution, especially one governed by Commonwealth law, there must be accountability,” he said.

“A number of processes including a review by the higher education regulator, TEQSA, are yet to conclude and need to be allowed to run their course.

“The voluntary undertaking to conduct an independent process to appoint the next chancellor is very welcome and will hopefully help rebuild trust, confidence and better governance at our national university.”

The National Tertiary Education Union said the “long-overdue resignation” was a chance for the troubled university to heal.

“Julie Bishop falling on her sword is long overdue and closes one of the darkest chapters we’ve seen at any Australian university,” said NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes.

Edit: Story updated

https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/former-chief-justice-indigenous-leader-quit-anu-council-20260511-p5zvm8

Maani Truu

Education correspondent

May 11, 2026 – 6.13pm

Two members of the Australian National University’s governing council have quit in the aftermath of outgoing chancellor Julie Bishop’s shock resignation, adding to accusations of a power grab by the higher education regulator.

Former chief justice of Western Australia Wayne Martin, KC, and Indigenous leader Tanya Hosch resigned from the 15-person council at the weekend amid rising criticism that the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency overreached by intervening in the recruitment process for the next chancellor.

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop stepped down last week over a dispute about the regulator’s intervention, following a tumultuous period at the helm of the troubled institution.

In his own resignation letter, Martin accused TEQSA of taking “complete control” of the governing body through “coercive, unlawful threats”.

“It follows from the council’s continuing abdication of the fundamental governance responsibilities expressly imposed upon the council by the ANU Act, at the behest of demands made by TEQSA … that I can no longer serve on the council,” it read.

“I sincerely hope that you and the council are able to mitigate the damage which has been done to the reputation and standing of a great university by unidentified malicious actors within either the council or staff of the university or quite possibly both.

“However, achievement of that worthy objective will be much harder now that the council has allowed TEQSA to unlawfully usurp council’s role in the governance of the university.”

Martin joined the council during Bishop’s tenure as one of seven ministerially appointed members. The council is responsible for appointing the chancellor and pro-chancellor, as well as ensuring the effective management of the institution.

TEQSA intervened following months of turmoil at the university, marked by concerns over governance, internal culture and leadership.

A voluntary undertaking agreed to by the council and TEQSA last week gave the regulator the power to appoint a chair and two independent experts to serve on a panel that would oversee the recruitment process for Bishop’s replacement when her term expired in December.

Under the agreement, two members of the university’s council were permitted to sit on the panel, but only if they were approved by the regulator.

Indigenous leader Tanya Hosch, who was also appointed by the minister, cited a lack of “due commitment and recognition of the importance and priority to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in decision-making” in her resignation letter.

“I do not accept it should be within the entire control of non-Indigenous people to determine the criteria under which an Indigenous person can participate,” it said.

“I have greatly appreciated the opportunities to contribute to ANU and will continue to be pleased to see ANU recover.”

The cascade of resignations comes after former KPMG chairwoman Alison Kitchen resigned from the council on Anzac Day, also citing TEQSA overreach.

Following Kitchen’s resignation in April, Bishop wrote to TEQSA’s chief executive, Mary Russell, seeking input on the council’s ability to start the search for potential replacements.

In a letter on May 5, Russell said she did not consider it appropriate for the council to provide recommendations for a replacement, given ongoing concerns about the council’s culture, the effectiveness of its oversight, and its ability to facilitate a selection process.

Bishop informed the university and the Albanese government of her decision to step down on Thursday night.

In a statement the following day, she said the council was no longer able to “discharge its legal and ethical obligations” following “unprecedented and co-ordinated interference”.

A TEQSA spokesperson on Friday said the voluntary undertaking set out “arrangements for a rigorous process to recruit the next chancellor of the ANU”.

“TEQSA’s compliance assessment of ANU is ongoing and no final decisions have been reached,” the statement read.

The regulator declined to comment on the subsequent resignations. ANU was also contacted for comment.

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/education/2026/05/02/exclusive-bishop-seeks-legal-advice-over-acting-vc

Phones have been seized and legal advice sought, as a string of explosive text messages reveal Rebekah Brown’s alleged involvement in the toppling of her predecessor as vice-chancellor, Genevieve Bell. By Jason Koutsoukis and Julie Hare.

Australian National University chancellor Julie Bishop has sought external legal advice over an alleged attempt to block access to encrypted text messages sent by the university’s interim vice-chancellor, Rebekah Brown. The messages relate to an apparent plan to remove Brown’s predecessor, Genevieve Bell, as vice-chancellor.

The associated uproar has again seen Brown directed to leave a governing council meeting and has seen the phones of at least two university deans seized by investigators.

At a meeting on Friday, April 24, Bishop told the ANU’s governing council that she had received a memorandum of advice from university general counsel Philip Harrison concerning a possible breach of the Freedom of Information Act by the office of the vice-chancellor.

The alleged breach related to texts sent on the messaging app Signal between Brown and the deans of the university’s six academic colleges between July 1 and October 12 last year. Bishop told the governing council she would seek external legal advice on the issues raised in Harrison’s memorandum.

The Saturday Paper has obtained 12 screenshots of Signal messages sent between Brown and Professor Steven Roberts, dean of the College of Business and Economics, between August 17 and August 24 last year, just days before the ANU’s six academic college deans drafted and sent a letter of no-confidence in then vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell.

The 12 screenshots were included in Harrison’s memorandum to Bishop.

On August 18, Brown sent Roberts a copy of the candidate booklet produced for the vice-chancellor appointment round that led to Bell’s selection.

Underneath the attachment, Brown wrote: “See role statement page.”

Subsequent messages appear to show Brown methodically assembling the grounds for Bell’s removal.

On August 21, Brown uploaded a link on Signal to a Google document. Above the link are the words: “Subject: Professoriate Letter to Council re. lack of confidence in ANU Executive.”

Brown wrote another message to Roberts on August 23, requesting a meeting.

“Would he [sic] good if we could have a phone call maybe before PB to just plan Tuesday - the narrative critical as I am being watched and loyalty tested constantly at moment and I want great outcomes here…” Brown wrote.

After referencing a phone conversation she appears to have had with Roberts on August 24, Brown messaged Roberts at 1.56pm the same day.

“Hi S. Thanks for very helpful (and therapeutic for me) discussion just now,” Brown wrote.

“I think it would be really helpful for Deans to do an assessment of VC’s performance against this criteria - if you had a collective session on this and got Helen [Professor Helen Sullivan dean, College of Asia and the Pacific] to write it up would he [sic] powerful. In addition to below - my next text is the suggested info to assemble (or criteria) for each performance criteria. Then after letter to Council - you ask to meet council and present the collective performance assessment? This outlines what evidence is needed to assess VC performance based on PD. This v what Council should have done.”

Brown then sent Roberts a detailed list with section headers and numbered criteria, titled “Performance of ANU Vice-Chancellor (Genevieve Bell) Against Role and Responsibility Definition.”

The document provided a point-by-point framework for assessing Bell against her job description, cataloguing alleged failures across financial management, governance, transparency, internal culture, conflicts of interest and regulatory compliance.

The letter of no-confidence, written by the six deans, was sent to the university council in the last days of August, ultimately forcing Bell’s resignation on September 11.

In a statement to The Saturday Paper, Professor Brown said: “I stand by everything that I’ve ever done or ever said, it’s only ever been in the interest of the institution. I have always advised my colleagues to assess leadership based objectively on performance. I’ve always been careful not to disparage the reputation of Professor Bell. All my efforts are to support and strengthen a cherished institution that’s in a very vulnerable state.”

On October 12 last year, the ANU’s FOI team received a request for access to any and all documents held by the university that relate to “Signal chats between Rebekah Brown and the college Deans, including individual or group chats from 1 July 2025 to present” and “Signal message ‘disappearing message’ setting for each conversation; including when this time was updated in the settings feature”.

The applicant wrote a follow-up email to the ANU on February 2, seeking an update on the FOI request, a response to which was by that time significantly overdue.

“Could you please provide an update on this FOI,” the applicant, known as “Remy E”, wrote. “It was originally submitted in early October, and even with the reasonable extensions, it is now well overdue.”

After receiving no response, the applicant sought a second update on March 20, noting that nearly six months had passed since the application was first lodged.

The ANU’s acting university secretary and manager of corporate governance and policy, Leslie McDonald, replied in writing on March 23, informing the applicant that “the relevant areas of the University were contacted and a search conducted for documents relating to the scope of your request, but no relevant documents could be located”.

“I am required to give you a decision on your request,” McDonald wrote. “Given that no documents relating to your request were found to exist, I have decided to refuse your Freedom of Information request under section 24A(1) of the Act.”

The applicant replied via email the same day.

“I’ve always been careful not to disparage the reputation of Professor Bell. All my efforts are to support and strengthen a cherished institution that’s in a very vulnerable state.”

“This is a troubling response that ‘no documents were found’,” noted the applicant. “I have received a copy of a Signal chat, today, which is in scope of this request from an ANU senior leader who is concerned about the response given.

“Perhaps it was human error that it was missed. I request an internal review and would like to understand how a Signal message within scope was not provided to the FOI team. I would also like to understand why this request notionally took six months to release if there were no documents?”

On April 14, the applicant received an email from Alex Caughey Hutt, associate director for information governance and access, advising that she had been appointed to undertake the internal review of the original FOI decision.

“I have made initial search and retrieval enquiries, however, to satisfy myself that all efforts have been made, I would like to undertake further internal consultations, for completeness,” Caughey Hutt wrote. “I wanted to provide you with this update to confirm your internal review has been allocated and is being actioned.”

According to one full-time ANU staff member: “That’s the moment when Brown and her team went into panic. They have been running around like headless chooks ever since.”

The Saturday Paper understands the internal review of the FOI decision has been taken out of Caughey Hutt’s hands and given to the ANU’s chief operating officer, Michael Schwager, a former director-general of IP Australia, whom Brown appointed to the role in March.

As part of the internal review process, The Saturday Paper understands, phones belonging to at least two of the college deans have seen seized, as well as up to 50 screenshots of messages between the college deans and Brown in the lead-up to Bell’s resignation.

“These FOI requests that are now flooding in are extraordinary in their detail,” says the ANU staff member. “They’re really pointed and incredibly detailed. They’re asking for copies of correspondence, conflicts of interest about people, consultancies. And what’s even more interesting is that all the FOIs that are really late and delayed are all the ones to do with Brown’s office.”

When a supervisor within the ANU’s FOI unit realised that the decision to deny the original FOI request may have put them in breach of the FOI Act, the supervisor sought the advice of university counsel Harrison. Harrison then prepared the memorandum for Bishop, which was presented to the university council on April 24.

Michael Schwager, the ANU’s chief operating officer, says it also occurred to him that the original decision to deny the FOI request could be a breach of the FOI Act.

“I have looked into that. It was a mistake,” Schwager tells The Saturday Paper this week. “I investigated it because I was concerned as to how we responded that way in the first place, and so I specifically investigated, and I’m satisfied it was just a mistake.”

According to another ANU source, several council members with some knowledge of the FOI Act told the April 24 council meeting that there was no prima facie case to deny public access to the Signal messages sought by the applicant.

“These messages, they will be released, and with very few, if any, redactions,” the source tells The Saturday Paper.

On Tuesday this week, Schwager sent an email to a select group within the ANU chancellery, which included several members of the unit that normally handles FOI requests, as well as members of Brown’s office. The full text has been obtained by The Saturday Paper.

“Hi all, just to keep things tidy, now that I’m doing the FOI review and all the relevant signal chats between the Deans and the IVC are being deposited with me to protect privacy as part of the FOI response, can you all please ensure you delete any screenshots floating around elsewhere on the system as part of the earlier attempts to respond to the FOI,” Schwager wrote.

“Of course, I’m not asking to destroy any genuine records, just abandon draft responses as part of privacy protection. Thank you. Michael Schwager.”

At the April 24 council meeting, Bishop also briefed the governing council on the findings of an independent investigation into serious misconduct allegations against Bell, conducted by Jane den Hollander, former Deakin University vice-chancellor and current interim vice-chancellor at Murdoch University.

Den Hollander was appointed to run the investigation on the advice of external law firm MinterEllison. Her report, delivered on April 17, cleared Bell of three misconduct allegations relating to the appointment of former news photographer Andrew Meares as a full professor in the ANU’s School of Cybernetics, which Bell had founded in 2021.

Den Hollander’s report, circulated to the seven council members appointed by the federal education minister and the six elected council members, found that none of the three allegations against Bell, including one allegation of dishonesty and one allegation of personal gain, could be substantiated.

Bell, whose suspension as a distinguished professor has been lifted, has been informed of the report’s findings. The report now sits with the interim vice-chancellor, Brown, who will determine the timing of its release.

One council member tells The Saturday Paper that the seven ministerial appointments were united in their view that they had never witnessed such internecine boardroom politics.

“Julie Bishop, who spent 20 years in federal politics, has never seen anything like it; Alison Kitchen, a director of the National Australia Bank and chair of their audit committee, has never seen anything like it; Wayne Martin, a former chief justice of Western Australia, has never seen anything like this in the legal profession; Rob Whitfield, who spent decades at Westpac and NSW Treasury, has never seen [anything] like this in corporate Australia. I’m absolutely gobsmacked at how Machiavellian it has been.”

This latest scandal comes as the university regulator announced it will make an extraordinary intervention in the process to replace Julie Bishop as chancellor.

For the first time in its 14-year history, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency has compelled a university council to agree to undertakings that significantly encroach on the normal recruitment practices for a new chancellor.

TEQSA and ANU came to a voluntary agreement outlining the terms of recruitment for the university’s next chancellor. It states that the regulator will select the panel chair.

TEQSA will appoint two other independent members of the selection panel and must sign off in writing another two members elected by the council from within its own ranks. A sixth member will be from an Indigenous background.

The panel chair is Emeritus Professor Peter Coaldrake, a former chief commissioner of the regulator and vice-chancellor of Queensland University of Technology.

The letter establishing the voluntary undertaking highlights a litany of concerns about the governance of the university council. It notes that the regulator had “raised concerns” about “the culture of ANU’s council; whether the council is obtaining and satisfactorily considering information needed to deliver effective governance; the adequacy and effectiveness of governance oversight by the council”.

It also raises findings regarding “inflexible work practices, unfair workloads, bullying, discrimination and lack of effective systems and accountability to address these issues”. It questions the “council’s awareness or oversight of the management of conflicts of interest”.

The document specifically references the university’s troubled restructure, known as Renew ANU. It questions the “adequacy and effectiveness of governance oversight by the Council” regarding the restructure, including whether the council had “appropriately identified and addressed potential risks associated with Renew ANU”.

It says that the need to revise Renew ANU, which came after sustained criticism of its efficacy and approach, had created “uncertainty about ANU’s strategic direction and operating environment”.

The regulator raises concerns about “ANU’s strategic direction and operating environment” and “the extent to which ANU’s council has effectively overseen, or shown the capacity to effectively oversee, delegated functions, including functions delegated to the chancellor and vice-chancellor”.

Bishop, who commenced as chancellor on January 1, 2020, had her initial three-year term extended for a further four years in October 2021, but not starting until the end of the first term in late 2022.

She has been under intense pressure over the past 18 months as a series of shocks and scandals have hit ANU since the appointment of Bell as vice-chancellor in January 2024. Bell resigned as vice-chancellor last September, less than two years into her five-year appointment.

Bishop, too, has been under pressure to resign. She has repeatedly dismissed calls for her to step aside, including after Bell’s resignation.

Writing to staff on Tuesday, pro-chancellor Larry Marshall said the process for appointing the next chancellor had begun.

“It is important that this appointment is made through a process that is robust, transparent, and commands confidence across our sector,” Marshall wrote.

“I have commenced a listening process with senior leadership to ensure the process is informed by the university’s culture, values and future priorities.”

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on May 2, 2026 as "Exclusive: Bishop seeks legal advice over acting VC".

https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-rise-and-fall-of-julie-bishop-as-chancellor-of-anu-20260508-p5zv4z.html

Sally Rawsthorne

May 9, 2026

When Julie Bishop was appointed as chancellor of the Australian National University in 2020, staff were surprised but optimistic.

Universities were feeling the fear typical of tertiary institutions under a conservative government, and there was a view that while the former foreign minister and long-serving deputy federal Liberal leader had no experience as a university administrator, her appointment brought prestige.

“People were cognisant of her ability to engage with a Liberal government,” said National Tertiary Education Union division secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy.

The cautious sense of optimism did not last; Bishop’s departure from the role, effective immediately and seven months early, was welcomed on Friday by staff, the NTEU and politicians almost universally as a chance for ANU to rebuild after years of chaos. Bishop leaves behind an institution with its reputation in tatters, no permanent chancellor or vice-chancellor, and hugely diminished staff morale.

Independent senator David Pocock said that by stepping aside, Bishop was acting “in the best interest of ANU”.

“After an incredibly difficult few years, now is the time to recommit to that mission, that optimism and that vision for what the ANU can be,” he said. “When things go so terribly wrong, there must be accountability.”

University of Canberra vice-chancellor Bill Shorten said he hoped Bishop’s resignation would serve as a circuit-breaker for ANU and that it “can go back to being a great national research institution”.

There is much to recover.

Bishop has previously said she inherited a financial mess when she stepped into the role, but she could be forgiven for feeling her tenure had been cursed. In her first six weeks as chancellor, the 2020 Black Summer bushfires shuttered the campus, a hailstorm caused $100 million worth of damage to buildings and the coronavirus pandemic began.

COVID-19 caused more damage at ANU than almost any other university in Australia, thanks to an earlier plan to make ANU a smaller and more prestigious campus at a time when its competitors were shoring up cash through signing up as many international students as they could.

The relatively poor fortunes of ANU led Bishop and then-vice chancellor Genevieve Bell to oversee a contentious plan to slash jobs and claw back savings, which the union has since claimed were overestimated by as much as $125 million.

Hundreds of staff lost their jobs and, in 2024, ANU reported an $87 million surplus.

The simmering tensions erupted into full public view last year, when ANU academic Dr Liz Allen accused Bishop of bullying her to the point of suicide in a Senate Education and Employment Committee hearing (Bishop has always denied the allegations); staff passed a vote of no confidence in Bishop and Bell, and Bell resigned from her million-dollar role in October.

Reflecting on Friday’s developments, Allen said the university would come out stronger.

“We are on a path towards healing,” she said.

The problems continue apace at ANU; hours before Bishop handed in her notice to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Education Minister Jason Clare on Thursday night, this masthead revealed a months-long stand-off over an email had been resolved only after the university had been reminded that failing in its disclosure obligations could result in imprisonment.

There are two active investigations into ANU; a third, commissioned after the bullying allegations before the Senate committee, has been completed but a report is yet to be released.

Multiple sources have told this masthead that the report by Dr Virginia Thom has cleared Bishop of any bullying allegations.

Last week, university regulator the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency made the unprecedented call to accept a “voluntary undertaking” from ANU to allow it to control the appointment of Bishop’s replacement.

This, Bishop says, was the catalyst for her departure.

“Following unprecedented and co-ordinated interference, the ANU Council is no longer able to discharge its legal and ethical obligations,” she said.

“The higher education sector is at a crossroads of regulatory overreach in the governance of our institutions or autonomy and academic freedom.

“I fear the collateral from this regulatory overreach will be the next generation of students and staff.”

ANU council member Alison Kitchen resigned from the council last month over TEQSA’s involvement, according to correspondence seen by this masthead.

Higher education expert Andrew Norton is concerned “that voluntary undertakings to TEQSA … mean that government agencies can significantly extend their power simply because the universities feel like they’re in a vulnerable position and therefore agree to terms that might be beyond the normal powers of the regulator”.

While Bishop was in the crosshairs of the union, which earlier this week came out in support of interim vice-chancellor Rebekah Brown, and a core group of staff, there remained many at ANU who admired her.

“She came into the university at a hard time. She didn’t shy away from a lot of the challenges,” said one staff member speaking anonymously to protect their job.

“I think she made some missteps but a lot of what happened to her is political.”

Bishop’s resignation seven months before the end of her term has left former CSIRO boss and pro-chancellor Larry Marshall in the hot seat until a replacement chancellor can be found.

“Hopefully, this means things will calm down a bit,” said another staff member.

Do they think it likely?

“No.”

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https://www.theage.com.au/national/good-riddance-julie-bishop-her-legacy-at-anu-is-catastrophic-20260508-p5zv1g.html

Julie Hare

May 8, 2026 — 4:51pm

Julie Bishop’s resignation on Friday as chancellor of Australian National University brings to a close one of the most ignominious periods in modern higher education history. Bishop has, over her six-year stint as head of ANU’s council, overseen widespread reputational damage, unprecedented regulatory and political intervention, falling rankings, staff mistrust, falling enrolments and community furore.

While Rome burnt, Bishop deflected blame onto the very people who were doing their utmost to remedy a very dire situation.

Bishop has been in the headlines for months. First, because her hand-picked choice as vice chancellor, Genevieve Bell, had to resign less than two years into a five-year appointment. The reason was wholesale chaos emanating from a badly mismanaged and ill-informed $250 million cost-cutting exercise, known as Renew ANU, that was probably engineered on incorrect and catastrophised financial information but had the backing of Bishop and her council.

This is despite growing evidence that the council was not given sufficient or even correct information to understand the consequences of such a massive restructure in just a year, that they did not scrutinise fully the information they were given and never asked if there were alternative options.

Instead, they gave Bell their full support as turmoil was unleashed, including scandals too numerous to mention, such as multiple allegations of misinformation provided to senators. Bell finally resigned last September, after the deans wrote to Bishop issuing an ultimatum – either Bell went, or they did.

Demands that Bishop also resign started to build at this point. But Bishop was tone-deaf to such entreaties, arguing that she needed to see ANU through its period of crisis while not admitting her own contribution to that situation.

In the background, though, her ongoing role was becoming increasingly untenable. At least three separate reviews into governance and leadership at the university are due to land during the coming days or weeks.

One of them, by respected integrity expert Vivienne Thom, which examined serious allegations of bullying and intimidation by Bishop towards other council members, had been expected to be read behind closed doors during the scheduled council meeting on Friday morning.

There were also two federal government inquiries into university governance last year, neither of which ANU came out of well. Quite the opposite.

Ultimately, though, it was an unprecedented intervention by the higher education regulator that brought Bishop undone.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency forced the council to sign off on a “voluntary undertaking” last week, which removed its authority to appoint Bishop’s replacement. As TEQSA made clear, it didn’t trust the council to do the right thing by the university, or to even understand what the right thing was, given the track record over the past 18 months.

Bishop was never a run-of-the-mill chancellor. While it is not uncommon for former politicians to hold these roles – six other universities currently have them as chancellors and Bishop was preceded by Labor luminaries Gareth Evans and Kim Beazley at ANU – she was a peculiar choice. First appointed in 2020, her initial three-year term was extended by an extra four years in mid-2021, but not starting until the end of 2022, giving her seven years in the position.

While also running her own consulting firm, Julie Bishop & Partners, the job of chancellor does not bring financial rewards – a mere $75,000 stipend – but it did come with a big travel budget.

In 2024, she racked up $150,000 on travel, including trips to New York, London and Japan, all on ANU’s purse, while the rest of the university was under strict austerity measures. She was also the only chancellor in the country to have an office away from the main campus. Hers was in a glossy glass high-rise with stupendous views over Perth’s Swan River, which cost $800,000 a year to run. And that was after the university spent $800,000 renovating it for her in 2021.

Not only that, but her two Perth-based part-time ANU staff who were employed to assist her as chancellor were simultaneously employed by Julie Bishop & Partners. And her long-term political staffer and current business partner, Murray Hansen, was given contracts to write speeches for Bishop as chancellor – a conflict of interest that was never declared and only revealed during a Senate inquiry.

Why Bishop wanted to be a chancellor is difficult to comprehend. Even when education minister back in 2006-07, she never seemed to hold the sector in high regard, only that they were breeding grounds for leftie activists and future Labor MPs and staffers.

And her choice of Bell as vice-chancellor, who also doubled up with a paid job with her former company Intel while working at ANU, was particularly destructive, and the ongoing fallout of the damage stemming from Renew ANU, job cuts and reputational damage will take years to remedy. Bishop’s legacy is catastrophic. All that remains to happen now is for the appointed council members to read the room and also hand in their resignations.

Julie Hare is a freelance journalist who broke numerous stories in relation to ANU’s leadership and governance crisis during 2024-25. She is the former education editor at The Australian Financial Review.

Edit: messed up the cut and paste the first time!

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9244789/more-anu-council-members-resign-after-julie-bishop-departure/

By Nieve Walton

May 12 2026 - 1:30pm

A community meeting will be held at the Australian National University on Tuesday, May 12, after four council resignations continue the institution's leadership exodus.

Since chancellor Julie Bishop resigned from the university on Friday, May 8, council members Tanya Hosch, Wayne Martin, Rob Whitfield and Padma Raman have resigned.

Ms Raman's resignation will take effect later in the week once her safety and wellbeing committee roles have been transitioned.

Interim chancellor Larry Marshall, who is acting until a new chancellor can be recruited, thanked members for their service during "a challenging period for the university".

The four resignations are from members appointed to the board by the federal education minister.

There are six other elected staff and student representatives on the university's council as well as the chancellor and vice-chancellor.

Interim arrangements for the University Secretary are also being arranged after Phillip Tweedie resigned.

Dr Marshall said the university was considering "longer-term governance legal and risk structures in the service portofolio".

"While this is a period of significant change, the university's operations, teaching, research and student activities continue as normal," he said.

"Council and the university's senior leadership are continuing to work constructively together in the best interests of ANU to ensure the university remains focused on its core mission of education, research and service to the nation."

On the same day that Ms Bishop resigned from her role, the university responded to the Thom review which made findings after Liz Allen alleged she had been adversely affected after sharing concerns at council meetings.

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https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-08/anu-independent-review-adverse-findings-former-council-members/106660472

By Monte Bovill

An investigation launched following allegations about the conduct of Australian National University (ANU) council members has found five adverse findings against now-former members.

The ANU appointed Dr Vivienne Thom AM to lead an independent investigation into the allegations raised at a Senate committee hearing in August last year.

In an email sent to staff and students late on Friday, the ANU Council said it received the report from Dr Thom.

"The Council recognises that the matters examined in the Thom ANU Report have been distressing for many members of our community, and we acknowledge the impact this has had on staff, students and the ANU Community," the email said.

"We do not want the matters investigated by Dr Thom to occur again."

It remains unclear who the adverse findings in the report relate to.

On Thursday night, before council met on Friday to receive the report, chancellor Julie Bishop told the council she was resigning from her position.

The council noted Dr Thom's report related to two public interest disclosures involving 36 allegations.

Dr Thom made findings of fact in respect of each allegation and made 12 recommendations all of which have been accepted.

"The Council acknowledges the distress individuals shared with Dr Thom, as outlined in her Report, and regrets the experience of those individuals," the email to staff and students said.

"The Council commits to fully implementing Dr Thom's recommendations and to building trust and confidence in the ANU."

ANU says it takes findings 'extremely seriously'

Dr Thom made one finding of maladministration, relating to ANU procedures for managing complaints raised by or about members of the ANU Council.

"The ANU takes this finding extremely seriously and will work diligently to address the recommendations of Dr Thom," the council said.

Five adverse findings were also made in relation to now-former council members in respect of their conduct as council members.

"While these adverse findings did not rise to the threshold of disclosable conduct... there was a recommendation that the Council consider whether the conduct breached obligations under the ANU Code of Conduct Policy," the council said.

"The Council carefully considered this recommendation and notes no further action is able to be taken in relation to former Council members."

The ABC has not seen the report, its recommendations or findings.

The report was provided to the Commonwealth Ombudsman "with appropriate redactions made to protect the identity of the discloser and the privacy of witnesses".

The higher education regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Authority (TEQSA), also received an unredacted copy of the report.

Review reveals 'significant concerns' over ANU governance: union

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) ACT division secretary Lachlan Clohesy said while council's statement doesn't go into specifics, it does reveal "significant concerns".

"A finding of maladministration is incredibly significant, as well as the disclosure that five adverse findings have been made against former Council members," he said in a statement to the ABC.

"Even with this little information, it confirms what we have known for some time: governance at the ANU is broken."