ANU management is facing a crisis of legitimacy over its $250 million proposed cuts. On 20 August Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell announced there would be no future forced redundancies under the Renew ANU cuts and has delayed implementing some already-announced job cuts.
On 25 August ACT Senator David Pocock introduced a bill in parliament calling for financial transparency. He has also called for increased funding for higher education.
Education Minister Jason Clare has referred a letter from Pocock to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), beginning a review into ANU’s leadership.
ANU is nonetheless determined to force through cuts. Former staff member of ANU Council Liz Allen testified to the Senate that the Chancellor Julie Bishop verbally abused her and physically blocked her from leaving meetings. The student union president revealed that Bishop refused to hold a vote within ANU Council to pause the cuts.
Labor and Liberal have backed the university’s ruthless management by voting down Pocock’s bill demanding ANU release the finances for each College at the university. Transparency would have likely undermined Bell’s claims that cuts are necessary due to the scale of the budget deficit.
Over the past 40 years, from 1989 to 2019, government funding as a percentage of university revenue has more than halved, going from 89 per cent to 35 per cent. It is no surprise that Labor and Liberal are supporting a vice-chancellor managing their underfunding through staff cuts.
Pressure from the likes of Pocock must be supplemented by a fighting campaign of students and staff. Pocock spoke at a student rally on 21 August, which marched to a staff BBQ where Liz Allen spoke of her determination to keep fighting management.
This followed a 70-strong rally on 12 August, where student contingents from Linguistics, English, Art & Design, Music and the Society for Arts and Social Sciences joined to display cross-campus opposition. Students rallied for seven hours, staging an evening speak-out outside Bell’s offices.
Much more sustained disruption on campus will be necessary to stop the 120 job cuts currently planned.
By Finnian Colwell
