A months-long standoff over an email from outgoing Chancellor Julie Bishop was only resolved after the Australian National University was reminded that failure to adhere to freedom of information laws could result in a prison sentence.
The email was the subject of a freedom of information request that began in November, and on March 20 the institution was warned that “failure to comply … [is] punishable by six months’ imprisonment”. The university replied 63 minutes later, and produced the email in April.
The delay in proffering the Bishop email is the latest in a series of scandals and missteps that have plagued ANU over the past few years and lay bare the dysfunction and chaos at the heart of the institution.
The 2020 email, obtained by this masthead, is from Bishop to ex-ANU academic-turned-whistleblower Peter Tregear and says the university commissioned then-vice chancellor Brian Schmidt to investigate concerns about governance and management.
That email is also the subject of a series of questions on notice from independent Senator Lidia Thorpe. ANU’s responses were due in April, but have yet to materialise.
A separate FOI requesting screenshots of Signal messages between senior staff at ANU also caused havoc. Six months after the request was made, the ANU said there were no documents to produce.
“This is a troubling response that ‘no documents were found’,” wrote the FOI applicant, whose identity is unknown.
“I have received a copy of a Signal chat, today, which is in scope of this request,” the Saturday Paper reported they said in response.
A review is now under way; multiple sources at ANU who spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the matter said that the university’s IT team has seized and searched a number of phones.
While Tregear’s disputes with the university began almost a decade ago, governance issues have plagued ANU since. Serious financial problems and a ham-fisted attempt to fix them resulted in 1000 staff members departing and led embattled vice chancellor Genevieve Bell to leave her million-dollar role. Three separate investigations into the university are under way.
ANU’s reputation has suffered further blows by a fiery Senate inquiry in 2025 when Bishop was accused of bullying an academic “into near suicide”; a vote of no confidence in Bell and Bishop made headlines the same year; last month, the National Tertiary Education Union claimed that the university overstated its fiscal problems to the tune of $125 million to justify redundancies and called for the council to be spilled.
Bishop said in a statement at the time that she had never interacted with staff “in any way other than with respect, courtesy and civility”. There is no suggestion that she was responsible for the failure of the university to produce the email.
ANU said it takes its statutory obligations seriously.
“ANU has received an increased, and unprecedented, volume of FOI requests over the past two years. The university is working to respond to this increased volume in a timely manner,” it said.
“The university has implemented the practical strategies recommended by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and formally notified the Freedom of Information Commissioner of our processing timeframes.”
The latest scandal comes a week after the university regulator took the unprecedented step of intervening in ANU’s hunt for Bishop’s replacement when her term finishes at the end of 2026.
In October, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) flagged concern with ANU about its council’s culture and the “adequacy and effectiveness of governance oversight”. Last week, it announced that a “voluntary undertaking” from ANU will see Bishop’s replacement chosen by a majority-independent panel with an independent chair instead of by the university’s council as is usual practice.
“I’m concerned there is clear, ongoing dysfunction on the current council that’s still hurting the ANU,” said independent Senator David Pocock, who has introduced a private members’ bill to improve internal accountability at ANU.
The new arrangement led ANU council member Alison Kitchen to resign, according to correspondence obtained by this masthead and multiple sources at the ANU.
Last month, the Herald reported that as vice chancellor, Bell promoted former news photographer Andrew Meares to the role of professor despite his lack of university qualifications. She was suspended during an investigation, which has now concluded. ANU has not released the findings of an investigation by respected university administrator Jane Den Hollander, which according to multiple sources at ANU cleared Bell of misconduct.
“Meares was promoted previously under the usual procedures,” a source said.
ANU said that Meares was is not under investigation and it does not comment on individual staff members’ employment.
“Professor Bell remains a distinguished professor at the School of Cybernetics and is currently on study leave. Professor Meares is a very well-regarded member of the School of Cybernetics and the College of Systems and Society.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
