“People expect better.” Senator Pocock Calls for an Inquiry and Accuses ANU of Misleading the Senate

By Sophie Felice

ACT independent senator David Pocock has accused ANU of intentionally misleading the senate as to the true cost of an external consultant contract with Nous Group Consulting. 

It was revealed the university had allegedly spent over $1 million as of January 2025 on the contract compared to the $50,000 originally quoted in a hearing in November of 2024. 

During a senate hearing on 7 November 2024, Pocock questioned ANU executives, including Vice Chancellor Genevieve Bell, about the scope and subsequent cost of the university’s engagement with Nous Group Consulting. 

Vice Chancellor Bell stated she had initially engaged Nous Group to “help think about how to look at the role and changing roles of universities in a global landscape” and that “since then we’ve been continuing to work with them in order to understand best practice around service infrastructure and support services.”

The question as to the value of the contract was deferred by VC Bell to Provost Rebekah Brown and then again to the Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Churchill. Churchill said, “We have paid circa $50,000 so far this year”.

However, it was revealed in a response to a question on notice by senator Tony Sheldon that the university had entered into a contract with Nous Group Consulting on 12 September  2024 worth $837,000 plus travel expenses, excluding GST. The initial contract was then extended twice, once in December 2024 and again in January 2025, bringing the total value of the contract to $1,127,000, excluding GST. 

Senator Pocock has written to the chairman of parliament’s Education and Employment Legislation Committee, senator Tony Sheldon, to request an inquiry into ANU citing apparent “contempt for the Senate estimates process”.  

“To say a contract is $50,000 when we learn it’s actually $800-and-something-thousand is a huge discrepancy”.

An ANU spokesperson has called the initial comments on the 7 November senate hearing “factually accurate”.   

“The arrangements with Nous were based on the university’s needs, were subject to regular review, and contained the ability for ANU to exit without committing the full amount of the contract if the university desired. Additional work was identified as required”. 

Senator Sheldon said of the discrepancy in the figures provided in November and those most recently released that, “The figure is nearly 17 times higher than previously stated, raising serious questions about transparency and whether the actual amount could be even greater”. 

This news comes in the week following the NTEU vote of no confidence in Chancellor Julie Bishop and Vice Chancellor Geneievieve Bell in which of the 800 union members at ANU, over 95% voted no to the question “Do you have confidence in the leadership of the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor?”. 

More to come. 

Graphics by Shé Chani

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