Appointment of Brooke Disney to Government Relations role
Dear Australian National University,
[Information material removed by Right to Know]
Specifically, I request access to all documents, whether formal or informal, for the period 20 August to present, including but not limited to:
1. Any documents related to the recruitment, appointment or engagement of Ms Disney to the Head of Government role, including: position description, business cases, recruitment or appointment papers, selection reports, approvals and contracts; any justification for appointing Ms Disney to the role without a competitive process, noting there are many staff with applicable experience and at level at ANU who could have been appropriate appointments; and any documents showing whether a competitive process was undertaken or an exemption was granted.
2. Any documents provided to or generated by the Recruitment Approval Committee (RAC) or Recruitment Oversight Committee (ROC) and implication to the local area budget.
3. All communications (including emails, Signal messages, instant messages, Teams chats, handwritten notes, meeting notes) between the Office of the Interim Vice-Chancellor, Media and Communications/Government Relations, Human Resources, Finance or other relevant areas discussing: Ms Disney’s appointment; the rationale for her appointment outside of a formal recruitment process; and reporting lines, duties, editorial oversight and any discussion of pay or workload implications, such as loadings.
Yours faithfully,
Joyce
Good afternoon,
On 9 October 2025, the Australian National University (the University)
received your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act).
The University has taken your request to be as follows:
…. I request access to all documents, whether formal or informal, for the
period 20 August to present, including but not limited to:
1. Any documents related to the recruitment, appointment or engagement of
Ms Disney to the Head of Government role, including: position description,
business cases, recruitment or appointment papers, selection reports,
approvals and contracts; any justification for appointing Ms Disney to the
role without a competitive process, noting there are many staff with
applicable experience and at level at ANU who could have been appropriate
appointments; and any documents showing whether a competitive process was
undertaken or an exemption was granted.
2. Any documents provided to or generated by the Recruitment Approval
Committee (RAC) or Recruitment Oversight Committee (ROC) and implication
to the local area budget.
3. All communications (including emails, Signal messages, instant
messages, Teams chats, handwritten notes, meeting notes) between the
Office of the Interim Vice-Chancellor, Media and Communications/Government
Relations, Human Resources, Finance or other relevant areas discussing: Ms
Disney’s appointment; the rationale for her appointment outside of a
formal recruitment process; and reporting lines, duties, editorial
oversight and any discussion of pay or workload implications, such as
loadings.
Your request has been assigned the case number 202500259.
Processing Timeframe
The statutory time frame for processing your request is 30 calendar days
from day after the date your request was received by the University. You
should therefore expect a decision from us by 10 November 2025.
This period of 30 days may be extended if we need to consult third
parties, impose a charge or for other reasons. We will advise you in
writing if this happens.
We will contact you using the email address you provided. Please advise if
you would prefer us to use an alternative means of contact. If you have
any questions regarding your request, please feel free to contact the FOI
Team via the functional email [1][ANU request email].
The FOI Team’s workload is currently at very high levels due the
unprecedented volume of FOI requests.
We are using our best endeavors to process all requests expeditiously
however there may be some slippage due to the current workload. We will
keep in touch with you and advise if there are any significant delays,
and, will, if necessary, seek extensions as permitted by the Act.
Yours sincerely
FOI Team
University Governance Office
The Australian National University
Email: [2][ANU request email]
Web: [3]https://www.anu.edu.au/freedom-of-inform...
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Ben (Right to Know) left an annotation ()
I'm part of the team that look after Right to Know. We have removed a paragraph from the original request after we received a complaint that it was against our House Rules.
If you have any questions, please contact us.