Communication on Governance

Question

I refer to correspondence from the then Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University, Professor Genevieve Bell, dated 20 June 2025 and sent to all staff at the Australian National University, bearing the subject title "Message from the Vice-Chancellor on governance": https://archive.org/details/2025-06-20-professor-genevieve-bell-australian-national-university-email-to-all- a) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in the above referenced correspondence, dated 20 June 2025, Professor Bell advanced the statement "I would like to specifically reference the assertions that the University has breached the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013"? b) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in the above referenced correspondence, dated 20 June 2025, Professor Bell advanced the statement "to date, no allegations of any breach of ANU's responsibilities under either the PID Act or the PGPA Act have been made to the University"? c) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in the above referenced correspondence, dated 20 June 2025, Professor Bell advanced the statement "neither had we been aware, until reading the media reporting, of any such complaints made to either our Minister or to the Commonwealth Ombudsman"? d) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in the above referenced correspondence, dated 20 June 2025, Professor Bell advanced the statement "we are particularly disheartened to hear a public assertion that we have breached our obligations under the PID Act"? e) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in the above referenced correspondence, dated 20 June 2025, Professor Bell advanced the statement the set of obligations that the ANU has under the Public Interest Act 2013 (Cth) "is something that the University and the team involved take extremely seriously, not least because a breach of that Act can attract significant penalties, including imprisonment"? f) Does the interim/current Vice-Chancellor concede that, in the above referenced correspondence, dated 20 June 2025, Professor Bell advanced the statement "ensuring disclosures are properly made requires that our community feels safe to do so"?

Answer

Please see the attached PDF.

Documents

• Question with answer (PDF) (opens in a new tab)
• ASQ26-0107.pdf (opens in a new tab)