By Sarah McCrea
On 31 July, ACT Senator David Pocock submitted several notices of motion to the Senate regarding the ANU, which are to be moved on the next sitting week, 23-25 August. If passed by the Senate, these motions will legally require the ANU to provide financial and administrative documentation related to issues including governance, financial management, and job cuts.
So what does this really mean? A notice of motion is not a motion itself or a decision by the Senate. Rather, it means that the Senator who provided the notice of motion will move that motion on the next sitting day of the Senate. Described in Parliamentary terms, “a notice of motion therefore signals a potential decision of the Senate.”
Most of the ANU-related motions to be moved by Senator Pocock pertain to the ‘provision of documents.’ If the motions are passed, the ANU is legally required to provide these documents. All provisions of documents must then be formally presented to the Senate by 28 August, and are kept as Senate records.
Most significantly, one of the proposed motions requests the Senate to mandate that the ANU “pause any further redundancies or other terminations of ongoing staff” until reports from a Senate inquiry into governance at Australian higher education providers are released. Senator Pocock’s motion will also request the Senate “[n]otes that these changes imperil the Australian National University’s capacity to fulfil its functions under the Act.” The referenced ‘changes’ include reduced staffing and the disestablishment of several centres and schools across ANU.
Another motion will request documents (from April 2024 to October 2024) relating to the budgets of all ANU Colleges be submitted to the Senate. This includes those that cover the process of creating college budgets, how these budgets are addressed, and “how funds may have been shifted, transferred, or reallocated from recurrent budgets.” Further, if the proposed motion is passed, the ANU will have to provide documents relating to “the impact on core and discretionary services of the colleges…as a result of budget cuts or their ability to meet future core and discretionary services and obligations.”
ANU has conducted two staff surveys, referred to as ANYOU, over the 2023-2024 period, with the University stating that from the surveys “we will understand where ANU is now and where we can take action to improve.” Another motion to be moved is that the ANU provide the Senate with the complete data and analysis drawn from these surveys.
An additional motion will require ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop to provide any email correspondence from her to the Council that relates to “a purported breach of Council confidentiality as referenced in an on campus bulletin on 8 July 2025.” This “on campus bulletin” refers to the staff and student newsletter, ‘On Campus’, which is circulated via email to all staff and students.
Senator Pocock has been critical of ANU leadership, having been notably present at an anti-Renew ANU rally. In June, he stated the university’s governance is “trashing an amazing institution.” Following last year’s Senate Estimates and controversy surrounding the worth of ANU’s contract with Nous Group, he alleged the ANU had “misled” the Senate. He has also “requested an investigation into the matter and potential contempt of the Senate.”
In response to the notices of motion, an ANU spokesperson told Observer, “[w]e were first made aware of the Senator’s Notices of motion via the media.”
“We are facing an incredibly challenging period, where we are having to make difficult choices as to how we continue to deliver our national mission within our financial means.”
“We will carefully consider the proposed motions and respond accordingly.”
More to come.
Graphics by Shé Chani
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