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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