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Hello everyone

With O-Week done and classes now underway, we’re back into our core business: delivering world-class education and research that benefits Australia. All of you play a part in that vision, whether you’re standing in front of a hundred keen undergrads in a lecture theatre, sifting through the latest dataset in your research project, or maintaining the garden beds on our beautiful campus.

This year, delivering on our vision means making some tough choices. We all fervently wish we weren't in this situation. We wish we didn’t have to deal with the fact we are spending a lot more than we are earning and have been doing so for a long time. But the facts about our situation compel us all to act. We have to be financially sustainable so our mission and purpose endures.

In the coming weeks and months, the University leadership will have more to say about the steps on our journey to financial sustainability, and how we’ll be consulting with you along the way. These will be difficult but important conversations, and my hope is that you will bring to those conversations the qualities that animate university life every day: thoughtfulness, robustness, and a willingness to engage with new ideas. Through open and transparent consultations, we will carefully consider diverse perspectives before reaching conclusions.

Of course, these decisions won’t always be popular. Change is uncomfortable. But it is our requirement under the Enterprise Agreement to ensure that the rationale behind these decisions is clearly explained and that you have the opportunity to influence and engage with proposed changes in a meaningful and respectful way.

While I and my leadership colleagues don’t shy away from criticism or scrutiny, I do object to activities which deliberately seek to destabilise and misinform. Which brings me to the NTEU’s upcoming “vote of no confidence” in our Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor.

To be clear, this “vote” has no legal or binding effect. The NTEU is not able to choose the leadership of our Council or the University. But I am concerned about the vote as a vehicle for mis- and disinformation. The NTEU’s recent all-staff meeting about the vote used information selectively to question the serious financial challenge we face. In fact, the Australian National Audit Office audits our finances every year, as they are doing at the moment, and our audited financial statements are tabled in Parliament. In addition, we committed last year to doing a quarterly financial update with our community, and we will continue to do that for as long as our community is interested.

It’s also worth making clear that these financial challenges are not about the Vice-Chancellor or the Chancellor. And they are not new. These challenges have slowly built up over a period of many years now, due to a range of factors and headwinds.

My concern about the NTEU’s “vote” is about the impact on our community, and the white noise of confusion and angst it creates. Despite this, I still firmly believe unions can and should play an important role in a modern workplace, and I remain optimistic that the NTEU will engage with us constructively. I welcome them to submit ideas they have on how to return our University to a sustainable footing. 

I want to thank you for the respectful way you are engaging with the Renew ANU process. I appreciate the hard work you all did last year, and the scale of the challenge that lies ahead. For most people I talk to, working at ANU isn’t just a job. It’s a passion. There are strong feelings of pride and attachment to this place. I feel the same way. That’s why I want us to succeed so we can preserve our University for the long term.

Jonathan Churchill
Chief Operating Officer