‘Disgraceful’ and ‘egregious’ governance has ‘engulfed’ Australian universities, union says

After repeated instances of employment disputes, wage indiscretions, and alleged conflicts of interest, the federal government has been called on to overhaul governance at Australian universities.

The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) is imploring the federal government to “overhaul Australia’s broken university governance system” after Education Minister Jason Clare referred the Australian National University (ANU) to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) over concerns pertaining to alleged contraventions.

As previously reported by HR Leader, around 760 NTEU-aligned staff overwhelmingly voted no confidence against the ANU leadership of the Honourable Julie Bishop and the vice-chancellor, Professor Genevieve Bell.

The basis of this vote boiled down to budget-related blunders – including a $60 million overestimation – and alleged conflicts of interest, with Bell having held a paid role with tech giant Intel after joining ANU leadership, raking in a $1.1 million salary.

The wage blunder, in particular, was intertwined with allegations from staff members that the university was intentionally buffing the deficit to justify their cost-cutting measures, which have included job cuts, the axing of courses, and the attempt to erase a staff pay rise.

According to the NTEU, the result of this has manifested in “staff mental health and morale are at an all-time low”, said Sarah Attfield, NTEU UTS branch president.

“Failures in consultation and transparency have hamstrung staff, leaving them increasingly unable to identify and challenge oversights made by leaders so far removed from the day-to-day functions of the university,” Attfield said.

“When are university leaders going to take real accountability for their errors, instead of making staff and students face the consequences of decisions they had no role in?”

Clare’s decision comes off the back of constant criticism layered at the ANU and its leadership by Senator David Pocock. As reported by The Australian Financial Review (AFR), Pocock claimed ANU’s leaders were “trashing” the institution at a recent town hall meeting – having written a letter to Clare previously voicing his concerns.

Clare also penned a letter to ANU leaders “seeking assurances that they are managing these issues appropriately”, according to the AFR.

“This is a watershed moment in the NTEU’s campaign to fix the disgraceful governance crisis that has engulfed our public universities,” said NTEU national president Dr Alison Barnes.

“This is a watershed moment in the NTEU’s campaign to fix the disgraceful governance crisis that has engulfed our public universities.”

Just last week, both Deakin University and Macquarie University were similarly under fire for “re-exploiting” underpaid staff and carrying out “brutal” job cuts – with the latter facing on-campus strikes due to the cuts.

“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,” Barnes said.

“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.

“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.”