failing to disclose her association with Vinder Consulting and [her former chief of staff] Murray Hansen<\/a>, and the fourth was Vice-Chancellor Genevieve Bell\u2019s failure to disclose to the council that she was receiving payment for a consulting role.<\/p>\n\u201cBased on those things, the university basically interfered in the complaints process,\u201d Dr Allen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a result, now, my complaint is unlikely to be investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Pocock questioned ANU representatives during the inquiry\u2019s afternoon session on Tuesday (12 August).<\/p>\n
Chief operating officer Jonathan Churchill said the university was taking Dr Allen\u2019s allegations \u201cvery seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn a preliminary view, a number of statements are not correct, but we will examine all of the statements made and respond with particularity and in writing to those assertions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn relation to Dr Liz Allen, I draw the Committee\u2019s attention to the fact that there is a current grievance procedure against the university initiated by Dr Allen, which makes it impossible for me to comment while the grievance procedure is on foot without compromising those current proceedings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senator Pocock also asked why he had to be the one to raise Dr Allen\u2019s grievance with Education Minister Jason Clare, given he believed it was an obligation for the ANU to do so under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act.<\/p>\n
Mr Churchill said he was \u201cfairly sure\u201d it would be unusual for the university to make such a notification.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t our practice \u2026 to advise the minister about staff grievances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An ANU spokesperson later told Region that a number of statements during the hearing testimony were \u201cfactually incorrect\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA response will be provided to the Senate inquiry as requested by the chair,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cANU is in the process of dealing with a formal workplace grievance and will not jeopardise a fair hearing and impartial investigation for all parties named in the complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"ANU](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/ANU-COO-Jonathan-Churchill-2-1200x741.png\")
<\/p>\n
ANU chief operating officer Jonathan Churchill at the Senate inquiry into university governance. Photo: Screenshot.<\/p>\n
Ms Bell was unable to appear at the inquiry as she was unwell and Ms Bishop was engaged in her capacity as the UN Secretary-General\u2019s Special Envoy on Myanmar.<\/p>\n
When it was pointed out that this was a hearing about governance, yet none of the council members were present, Mr Churchill said the ANU had offered to reschedule the appearance for when they were available.<\/p>\n
Chair Senator Marielle Smith responded that she wasn\u2019t aware of this offer but noted the hearings were ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe may well see the ANU again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) revealed during its hearing session that it has been investigating concerns around the institution\u2019s compliance with various regulations since 24 October last year.<\/p>\n
CEO Dr Mary Russell said Dr Allen\u2019s concerns had since been added to the scope of concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of those matters where additional concerns and issues have been raised during the course of our inquiry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
It is also investigating why the original independent investigator of Dr Allen\u2019s complaint resigned, and the Renew ANU processes.<\/p>\n
Dr Russell could not give an estimated timeline on when TESQA\u2019s formal compliance assessment of the ANU would be complete.<\/p>\n
Senator Pocock has called for Chancellor Julie Bishop to stand aside in light of the allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are extraordinarily serious and disturbing allegations that have been made against the ANU Chancellor from a respected member of the academic community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that in light of these allegations, the Chancellor should step aside until a full and independent investigation has been undertaken. It is also clear that we need an improvement in governance at the university, including through an update of the ANU Act.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ACT Senator David Pocock questioned ANU officials about claims of misconduct and bullying during a Senate inquiry into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-67651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/unnamed-1200x801.jpg\")
<\/p>\n