The National Tertiary Education Union has urged the federal government to overhaul Australia's broken university governance system following an unprecedented intervention by the Education Minister.
Jason Clare has referred serious governance concerns at ANU to regulator TEQSA, after staff passed a no-confidence motion in Vice Chancellor Genevieve Bell and Chancellor Julie Bishop over a litany of failings.
While the government holds special powers over ANU – due to its foundation in federal law – new national and state legislation is urgently needed to fix governance failures across the rest of the higher education sector.
NTEU National President Dr Alison Barnes said the case for major change was now overwhelming.
"This is a watershed moment in the NTEU's campaign to fix the disgraceful governance crisis that has engulfed our public universities," she said.
"The situation at ANU has sparked an unprecedented ministerial intervention. Unfortunately, the problems at ANU are being replicated all around the country.
"We're seeing egregious conflicts of interests, eye-watering amounts of wage theft, a hiring-firing yo-yo, and zero transparency for leadership decisions that cripple universities.
"It's time for a major change in how our universities are run. That means governance reform that makes university bosses accountable for the incredible damage they are doing.
"This must mark the end of vice chancellors pocketing a million dollars a year and acting with impunity as they destroy student experience and slash jobs.
"The government has acknowledged the crisis, now we need national laws that pull these rogue university executives into line so we can provide world-class research and teaching."
NTEU ACT Division Secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy said:
"ANU is a great university with great people, which has been let down by poor governance and leadership. We welcome this intervention by Minister Clare. It is a signal of intent in terms of cleaning up university governance."
"It is difficult to see how the continuation of the current ANU leadership is tenable. Every day they remain in place further damages our national university and its people."
NTEU ANU Branch President Millan Pintos-Lopez said:
"A lot of staff are doing it tough at the ANU and will welcome this development. This news demonstrates that the Minister is treating our concerns with the seriousness they deserve."
