By Will Cassell
The President of the ANU Students’ Association (ANUSA), Charley Ellwood, believes that “resignations [of ANU Council members] in short don’t solve the problem”.
Observer sat down with Ellwood following resignations this month of Chancellor Julie Bishop and five elected members of the ANU Council.
“I don’t think any of these issues can be isolated to specific members [of the ANU Council],” Ellwood told Observer. “I would encourage people to look beyond the individuals and to the systems…it’s not about the bums on seats, it’s about the seats themselves.”
“This is a university-sector wide problem”.
Ellwood cited a number of issues facing the ANU, including financial pressures under the Job-Ready Guarantee Scheme, and a reliance on fees paid by international students.
“If we were properly funded and viewed as a public good, then Renew ANU wouldn’t have happened”, he stated.
Calls for free university fees were “wishful thinking”, according to Ellwood. “We should have equitable funding systems,” he said. He noted ideal models that put the timeframe of paying off the cost of HECS debts at between five and ten years.
Ellwood encouraged students to get involved with the ANU Governance Project. “I can’t comment highly enough on [them]”.
Ellwood has been involved with the project for the last two years.
When asked whether he agreed with commentary that Federal Education Minister Jason Clare should further intervene with the ANU, Ellwood said “it would be inappropriate for the Minister to intervene where it’s the regulator’s role”.
“The Minister needs to be more front-footed on funding and reforming the TEQSA Act”.
The ANU Council now finds itself with a majority of elected members. Calls are growing for university councils to reverse changes made under the Howard government, which reduce student and staff representation while increasing appointed members.
Former Federal Education Minister, Brendan Nelson sought to make “university councils in the image of corporate boards”.
Ellwood welcomed the “external expertise” of appointed members of the ANU Council. However, he stated that he did not want “the University to be run like an ASX company”.
Ellwood noted a recent “tone shift” from the ANU executive.
In a speech last week, Acting Pro-Chancellor Andrew Metcalfe said that “the ongoing members of Council are very aware of the pain being felt by so many of our community”.
“The Council now has much to do to rectify what has gone wrong, and to help build a much better governance structure for the University.”
Metcalfe confirmed that the Thom Report had one finding of maladministration and several adverse findings in relation to former Council members.
In a statement following the resignation of Bishop as Chancellor, ANUSA said there was “a small sign of hope for the future of the ANU”.
“What we must do is look back at the past two years with honesty and look at the true extent to which RenewANU has hurt the ANU.”
ACT Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), Lachlan Clohesy, said that Bishop’s resignation was a chance for “calm and stability.”
In an email to staff and students, the ANU Council said that Bishop had “raised the university’s profile domestically and internationally and strengthened global connections”.
Both the Australian National Audit Office and the national university regulator, TEQSA, are due to release their reports into the ANU in the coming months.
The ANU Governance Project is co-hosting a national forum with the UTS Governing Project on Friday 5 June 2026 at Yukeembruk Village. The event ‘invites reflection on how governance arrangements can better support institutional resilience and public trust,’ according to the ANU Governance Project website.
Graphics by Harry Dennis
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