Julie Bishop has resigned as chancellor of ANU
Julie Bishop has resigned as the chancellor of the Australian National University, finance minister Katy Gallagher confirmed this morning.
Gallagher said in a statement:
I note the resignation of ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop.
The challenges facing ANU did not arise overnight, and rebuilding trust and confidence across the university community will take time and careful work.
I have consistently said the university leadership and Council need to work openly and constructively with staff, students and the broader community to rebuild confidence and agree on a path forward.
That remains the task ahead for the university.
Key events
Caitlin Cassidy
R&D spending in higher education returns to pre-Covid levels
Spending on Research & Development (R&D) has returned to pre-Covid levels, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows.
Higher education expenditure on R&D was $16.4bn in 2024, up 17% on 2022 levels and representing the highest rate of growth since 2012.
The head of business statistics at the ABC, Tom Lay, said spending had reached its “highest level since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2022”.
This recovery was supported by the return of international students increasing university revenue streams and staffing levels.
The lift was largely attributed to a $1bn rise (17%) in labour costs, Lay said, with more research funding allowing universities to hire more academic staff.
He said many universities also delivered their first pay increases since the deferral of pay rises over the pandemic, while labour laws also led to the transition of casual roles to permanent positions.
He said:
Higher education spending as a share of GDP has increased from 0.54% in 2022 to 0.59% in 2024. This is the first increase for this sector since 2018 and reflects a return to more normal operations.
Luca Ittimani
NSW Health ‘combating antisemitism’ after nurse speaks out
NSW Health has said it will not tolerate discrimination, after a Jewish Sydney nurse manager said her colleagues had called her “Zionist scum” and told her to remove posters and ribbons commemorating the hostages of 7 October 2023.
The nurse, who remained anonymous, also told the royal commission into antisemitism yesterday she and others in the Jewish community felt unsafe as patients in hospitals. You can read more here:
A NSW Health spokesperson today did not directly address the nurse’s comments but said the department was “committed to combating antisemitism and hate in all its forms”. They said:
Any form of discrimination, whether from colleagues, patients, or the public, is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
We want to reassure our communities that NSW Health remains dedicated to providing safe, compassionate, high-quality, and patient-centred care to all individuals, regardless of their background or culture.
NSW Health frequently reiterates to staff across our workplaces how we strongly condemn any form of discrimination, hate speech, or prejudice that undermines the inclusive and compassionate values that underpin NSW Health.
The spokesperson said NSW Health was engaging with community leaders to inform policy with lived experiences and expanding cultural competence and anti-racism training for all NSW Health staff.
We acknowledge systemic change requires ongoing dialogue and collaboration, and we are deeply committed to continuing to work closely with stakeholders to ensure that our health system remains a place of trust, respect, and inclusion for all.
Caitlin Cassidy
PM rejects calls for Anika Wells to resign
The prime minister was also asked about the $10,000 Anika Wells has repaid.
He said “she has paid back the money” and there is an independent parliamentary expenses authority in charge of the matter.
She referred herself to it which was appropriate and it was appropriate that she paid back the money … in accordance with the rules.
She has done what the rules require. Anika Wells is a very good minister doing extraordinary work … and Anika Wells has apologised.
Asked if she should resign, he reiterated that she had apologised and paid back the money.
Bridget McKenzie breached a range of flights while campaigning about people not making declarations. There were more than a dozen that she made. She did that and she remains a shadow minister in a senior position indeed. She is deputy leader of the Nationals in the Senate.
Tom McIlroy
Wells repays more than $10,000 for travel breaches
The communications minister, Anika Wells, has repaid more than $10,000 for incorrect travel claims, identified after controversy about her use of taxpayer-funded entitlements.
In a statement released on Friday morning, Wells said an audit by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority identified four mistakes in her claims since Labor’s 2022 election victory.
As a result she has repaid $10,116.11, including a 25% penalty loading.
Her official travel attracted criticism in late 2025, sparked by figures showing she spent $100,000 to fly with a staffer to New York to promote the government’s social media ban for under 16s at a United Nations event. Wells faced criticism for using family travel entitlements to take her children and husband to official events, including the AFL grand final and a ski event in Thredbo.
“The publicly available audit found no misconduct or ethical breaches,” Wells said on Friday.
The audit found, over four years of travel, involving nearly 250 separate trips, I made four mistakes.
These were four cases where I chose what I thought was the more sensible, cheaper option, but those choices were not allowed according to the rules, which I accept and respect.
Wells said she accepted the decision by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority and apologised for “honest mistakes”.
‘I have sympathy for the children’, PM says on return of Australians from Syria
Asked about the return of 13 women and children linked to IS who arrived back in Australia today, the prime minister says the government will “deal with these issues in an appropriate way” and adds that he has sympathy for the children who are “victims of the decisions their parents have made”.
One of the things that divides our society from the lawless barbarity of Isis is we believe in the rule of law and that means if you are an Australian citizen, you have some entitlements.
I have seen comments from various Coalition figures and some in the media that they know are simply not true. We provided no support for these people. They were not brought back.
It is correct the US government and others urged us to do so. We chose to make our own decisions as a sovereign state and not provide them with any support because I have absolutely zero sympathy for these people. I have sympathy for the children, who are victims of decisions their parents have made.
Albanese says it is appropriate the children undergo support after being exposed to “all sorts of horrors” in the camps.
On three women who arrived back in Australia after spending years in Syrian detention camps, he says: “they are in the clink, got arrested and they will be charged today”.
I have faith in our authorities, in the Australian Federal Police, Asio, I will back them, allow them to do the job and that is what they have done … Australian citizens have rights, but we have a right as a government to ensure the law is upheld and these people will face the full force of the law.
Albanese touts $3.8bn in budget funding towards Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is addressing media from Melbourne in his high vis. It comes after it was revealed the federal government would spend another $3.8bn for the Suburban Rail Loop, Melbourne’s controversial and costly 90km public transport project.
He takes the time to plug this coming budget, telling reporters they will “see all of the money flow on Tuesday night”.
Jim Chalmers, tune in.
Asked if the Victorian government asked for more funding, he says they “negotiated, as we always do, constructively, in order to deliver what was necessary to make sure that this project is full-steam ahead”.
This will flow. You will see that on Tuesday night.
What costs money is not building proper infrastructure. What costs money [is] through urban congestion, through people not having homes to live in close to public transport.
We are committed to investment in infrastructure because that is how you grow an economy, that is one of the best things you can do to boost productivity … Whether it’s Paris, New York, London, they all have not rail networks that go all to one point at the equivalent of Central Station.
Caitlin Cassidy
Julie Bishop’s resignation latest in tumultuous time at Australian National University
Julie Bishop’s resignation comes less than a year after the exit of the Australian National University’s vice chancellor, Prof Genevieve Bell, and continues a tumultuous three years for the institution marred by redundancies, proposed course closures and allegations of a toxic work culture.
When Bell tendered her resignation in September last year, Bishop vowed to stay on as chancellor despite pressure from the union, student groups, sectors of the academic community and independent senator David Pocock questioning her future.
Labor senator Tony Sheldon was among the former foreign minister’s critics, pointing to “sweeping restructures … rising dissatisfaction among students and staff” and a failure to “provide transparency around serious governance concerns” during her tenure.
The forced job cuts and restructure have since been walked back under the leadership of the interim vice-chancellor, provost Rebekah Brown. At least 399 redundancies have been taken since the restructure began in 2024.
At the time of Bell’s resignation, Bishop said there were “no grounds” for her to step aside and she had the full backing of council to continue her tenure until 2026. She said at a press conference last September:
The university’s financial situation … began a very long time ago. We’re not the only university that has found itself in this kind of difficulty.
ANU remains under scrutiny, with a review ongoing by the higher education regulator, TEQSA, into its governance, financial sustainability and institutional culture.
Julie Bishop acting in ‘best interests’ of ANU, David Pocock says
The independent senator for the ACT David Pocock has praised staff and students at the Australian National University (ANU) for standing together in the “face of poor leadership and governance” after the revelation that the former foreign minister Julie Bishop has resigned as chancellor from the institution.
In a statement this morning, Pocock said ANU was founded 80 years ago “as a beacon of hope, of working together and striving for better as a country”.
After an incredibly difficult few years, now is the time to recommit to that mission, that optimism and that vision for what the ANU can be. Staff and students at the ANU and our community have stood together in the face of poor leadership and governance in recent times.
Pocock said it had been “scary and difficult” for staff and students to do so, pointing to evidence given in a Senate inquiry last year, “at great personal cost”.
We’ve seen dozens of professors, emeriti and alumni put their name to letters over the years, and as recently as this week, demanding better governance of our national university … The bravery of all these people, backed by the support of our broader community, has forced ANU leaders to take responsibility for these governance and leadership failures. In stepping aside, the chancellor is acting in the best interests of the ANU …
A number of processes, including a review by the higher education regulator TEQSA, are yet to conclude and need to be allowed to run their course. The voluntary undertaking to conduct an independent process to appoint the next chancellor is very welcome and will hopefully help rebuild trust, confidence and better governance at our national university.
Bishop and ANU have been approached for comment.
NSW police arrest 62nd person in long-running investigation into child abuse material
Officials with NSW police’s sex crimes squad arrested a 62nd person in a long-running investigation that saw the largest seizure of child abuse material in the state’s history.
Police said the arrest was made under strike force Glandore, established in 2023, to investigate the online distribution, supply and access of child abuse material. Detectives said the investigation began after police discovered an Australian network of more than 700 alleged offenders using a cloud-based storage platform to allegedly access and share the offending material.
62 of those alleged offenders were found to reside in NSW, all of whom have since been arrested and charged with a total of 400 offences.
The man arrested yesterday was taken into custody in Corrimal. He was refused bail and will appear before court today.
Adam Powderly, a detective acting supt with NSW police, said:
Every image shared, every file accessed, represents a real child who has been harmed. Today’s final arrest closes one of the biggest CEIU strike forces to date and has made a significant dent in the number of paedophiles operating in NSW, disrupting a key part of Australia’s online child abuse network.
Julie Bishop has resigned as chancellor of ANU
Julie Bishop has resigned as the chancellor of the Australian National University, finance minister Katy Gallagher confirmed this morning.
Gallagher said in a statement:
I note the resignation of ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop.
The challenges facing ANU did not arise overnight, and rebuilding trust and confidence across the university community will take time and careful work.
I have consistently said the university leadership and Council need to work openly and constructively with staff, students and the broader community to rebuild confidence and agree on a path forward.
That remains the task ahead for the university.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Barnaby Joyce says Farrer voters can send a message to Canberra in byelection
The One Nation MP, Barnaby Joyce, says voters in Farrer can be at the “forefront of the change in politics in Australia” by supporting the right-wing party in Saturday’s federal byelection.
Joyce appeared at a press conference in Albury with the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and Farrer candidate, David Farley, on the eve of the highly anticipated byelection.
The contest – which was triggered by former Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s resignation from parliament – is expected to be a race between Farley and the independent Michelle Milthorpe.
Joyce said:
You have the opportunity to say to Canberra, to say to parliament, no, you’re not doing a good enough job. We’re not just going to accept what you’ve delivered.
Joyce said One Nation was already “changing the direction of this nation”, claiming credit for the Coalition’s decision to dump a net zero emissions target and pursue a hardline immigration policy.
Australia has so much potential, so much potential. We could be a powerhouse for good in the world, but we have to first of all become the powerhouse.
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