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When Julie Bishop was appointed as chancellor of the Australian National University in 2020, staff were surprised but optimistic.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were cognisant of her ability to engage with a Liberal government,\u201d said National Tertiary Education Union division secretary Dr Lachlan Clohesy.<\/p>\n
The cautious sense of optimism did not last; Bishop\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
![\"Then-chancellor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/850aecf210871518ad01601c2c27f3d7cb99b7f8.jpeg\")
Then-chancellor Julie Bishop fronts the media after a meeting with ANU staff in September.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n
Independent senator David Pocock said that by stepping aside, Bishop was acting \u201cin the best interest of ANU\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 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,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen things go so terribly wrong, there must be accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
University of Canberra vice-chancellor Bill Shorten said he hoped Bishop\u2019s resignation would serve as a circuit-breaker for ANU and that it \u201ccan go back to being a great national research institution\u201d.<\/p>\n
There is much to recover.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Related Article 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Hundreds of staff lost their jobs and, in 2024, ANU reported an $87 million surplus.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Reflecting on Friday\u2019s developments, Allen said the university would come out stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are on a path towards healing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Related Article 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Multiple sources have told this masthead that the report by Dr Virginia Thom has cleared Bishop of any bullying allegations.<\/p>\n Last week, university regulator the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency made the unprecedented call to accept a \u201cvoluntary undertaking\u201d from ANU to allow it to control the appointment of Bishop\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n This, Bishop says, was the catalyst for her departure.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing unprecedented and co-ordinated interference, the ANU Council is no longer able to discharge its legal and ethical obligations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThe higher education sector is at a crossroads of regulatory overreach in the governance of our institutions or autonomy and academic freedom.<\/p>\n \u201cI fear the collateral from this regulatory overreach will be the next generation of students and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n ANU council member Alison Kitchen resigned from the council last month over TEQSA\u2019s involvement, according to correspondence seen by this masthead.<\/p>\n Higher education expert Andrew Norton is concerned \u201cthat voluntary undertakings to TEQSA \u2026 mean that government agencies can significantly extend their power simply because the universities feel like they\u2019re in a vulnerable position and therefore agree to terms that might be beyond the normal powers of the regulator\u201d.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n![\"Julie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/29e4fa93b9f83f6cf049ad94a7d189ec5fc47a48.jpeg\")
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Then-chancellor Julie Bishop arrives for a press conference after a meeting with ANU in September.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"ANU\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/b09d8a72d460bfbf51af82e4058e72348f4b9fcc.jpeg\")
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![\"ANU](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dde7bd7a9aa94b356e29ea45624a57832809c3d9.jpeg\")
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