Submissions to Senate
Dear Australian National University,
I refer to published submission 47 in relation to the Senate's inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian higher education providers.
The submissions were made by Professor Peter Tregear OAM, and can be accessed on the submissions page on the webpage of the Senate inquiry.
At paragraph 42 of his submissions, Professor Tregear refers to correspondence that he received from the Hon Julie Bishop on 23 December 2020, in which Ms Bishop stated that "the Australian National University takes seriously all responsibilities we have under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 and to the Commonwealth Ombudsman."
Under the FOI Act 1982 (Cth), I request access to:
i) the correspondence dated 23 December 2023, from Julie Bishop to Professor Tregear, referred to at paragraph 42 of Professor Tregear's submissions, and
ii) any and all correspondence from the Senate's Education and Employment Committee, or the secretariat of that committee, inviting comments from the ANU or Ms Bishop to the critical or adverse reflections set out in Professor Tregear's submissions, and
iii) any and all correspondence to or from Julie Bishop in relation to any correspondence from the Senate's Education and Employment Committee, or the secretariat of that committee, inviting comments from the ANU or Ms Bishop to the critical or adverse reflections set out in Professor Tregear's submissions.
In relation to parts ii and iii of my FOI request, you may limit your searches for documents to between 28 August 2025 and 4 November 2025.
Please provide your decision and any relevant documents to me by return email.
Yours faithfully,
Eilidh
Dear Eilidh,
On 5 November 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) the correspondence dated 23 December 2023, from Julie Bishop to Professor Tregear, referred to at paragraph 42 of Professor Tregear's submissions, and
ii) any and all correspondence from the Senate's Education and Employment Committee, or the secretariat of that committee, inviting comments from the ANU or Ms Bishop to the critical or adverse reflections set out in Professor Tregear's submissions, and
iii) any and all correspondence to or from Julie Bishop in relation to any correspondence from the Senate's Education and Employment Committee, or the secretariat of that committee, inviting comments from the ANU or Ms Bishop to the critical or adverse reflections set out in Professor Tregear's submissions.
In relation to parts ii and iii of my FOI request, you may limit your searches for documents to between 28 August 2025 and 4 November 2025.”
Your request has been assigned the case number 202500289.
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 5 December 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 [ANU request email].
The FOI Team’s workload is currently at very high levels due to the unprecedented volume of FOI requests.
We are using our best endeavours 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: [ANU request email]
Web: https://www.anu.edu.au/freedom-of-inform...
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University) | CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C | ABN: 52 234 063 906
Good afternoon,
I refer to your request for access to documents under the Freedom of
Information Act 1982 (the Act) received by the University on 5 November
2025.
Your request is receiving attention and a decision will be provided to you
as soon as possible..
Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing delays regarding your request
and we will be unable to provide you with a response by the current
decision date of 6 December 2025.
Delays are being experienced due to the FOI team dealing with an
unprecedented number of complex FOI requests with minimal staff.
Accordingly, the University is seeking an extension of time of 30 days in
accordance with section 15AA of the FOI Act.
If you agree to the extension, the University would be required to provide
you with a decision notice by no later than 6 January 2026.
Your earliest response would be appreciated as we are required to notify
the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) of any
extension agreed.
Yours sincerely
ANU Freedom Of Information Unit
E: [1][ANU request email]
Web: [2]https://www.anu.edu.au/freedom-of-inform...
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University) | CRICOS Provider
Code: 00120C | ABN: 52 234 063 906
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[ANU request email]
2. https://www.anu.edu.au/freedom-of-inform...
https://www.anu.edu.au/freedom-of-inform...
Dear Freedom of Information,
Case number - 202500289
I refer to your email requesting an extension of time.
In that email you stated that the ANU's response is due on 6 December 2025. That is not correct; the decision is due today (5 December 2025).
My request is a very simple one. It is for a handful of documents at most. My request is for access to:
access to:
i) the correspondence dated 23 December 2023, from Julie Bishop to Professor Tregear, referred to at paragraph 42 of Professor Tregear's submissions, and
ii) any and all correspondence from the Senate's Education and Employment Committee, or the secretariat of that committee, inviting comments from the ANU or Ms Bishop to the critical or adverse reflections set out in Professor Tregear's submissions, and
iii) any and all correspondence to or from Julie Bishop in relation to any correspondence from the Senate's Education and Employment Committee, or the secretariat of that committee, inviting comments from the ANU or Ms Bishop to the critical or adverse reflections set out in Professor Tregear's submissions.
I will not agree to a 30 days extension of time because you have not explained why you need 30 days to process a very simple request. You have also not explained what you have done in the last 30 days to process the request.
I will agree to a 7 day extension of time, which means that I agree to an extension of time until Friday, 12 December 2025.
If you would like an extension of time beyond 12 December 2025, you will either have to explain to me why the time provided has not been enough to process my very simple request or you will have to apply to the OAIC for an extension.
Yours sincerely,
Eilidh
Apologies, Eilidh, for the confusion around the due date
Firstly, thank you for the extension until this Friday 12 December 2025.
Secondly, you are correct: the original deadline we informed you of in the attached acknowledgement (of Friday 5 December 2025) was the correct deadline, so our apologies for our misstep there in the below thread.
Update on Your Request
- Thus far, four separate areas of the University have conducted at least four separate searches - with no positive results thus far.
- As an option of last resort, we have also contacted a central team to conduct a final search - but if that also yields no results, we will let you know via a decision letter.
- This final, last resort search option may take us beyond the agreed extension date of this Friday 12 December 2025; if that ends up being the case, please be assured that (while your request will technically be a deemed refusal due to the delay) we will still be finishing that search and processing your request through to a complete decision.
- If the search comes back with a positive result, we will let you know; this means that time and resource will be needed to review any document(s) found in accordance with the FOI Act.
- The large volume of requests the ANU FOI team has on deck at the moment (>100 open items) may contribute to our failure to meet deadline, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to you.
Option open for a further agreed section 15AA extension
Acknowledging that the request has already been extended by agreement until this Friday 12 December 2025, you are welcome to agree to a further extension up until Thursday 24 December 2025 under s 15AA of the FOI Act. This extension (only upon agreement with you) would allow us to complete any final search actions. If there are documents that are found where, upon review, consultations are required then we may need to extend the processing timeframe to accommodate such consultations (particularly taking into account the upcoming University Shutdown period from 25 December 2025 returning 5 January 2026).
If you do agree to an extension until Thursday 24 December 2025, we will notify the OAIC as required.
If you do not agree, that's fine - we will continue processing your request and issue a decision as soon as practicable - just know that our decision will be technically late / a deemed refusal, and be aware of your review rights under our email signature below. In short, your request is being processed regardless - whether you agree to an extension or not.
If you have any questions or wish to discuss this further, please contact us by way of reply email.
Please rest assured that we are processing your request.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
University Governance Office
The Australian National University
Email: [ANU request email]
Web: https://www.anu.edu.au/freedom-of-inform...
TEQSA Provider ID: PRV12002 (Australian University) | CRICOS Provider Code: 00120C | ABN: 52 234 063 906
Your review rights
If you are dissatisfied with the technical deemed access refusal, you may apply for internal review or Information Commissioner review of the decision. We encourage you to seek internal review as a first step as it may provide a more rapid resolution of your concerns.
Application for Internal Review of Decision
Section 54A of the Act, gives you the right to apply for an internal review of any decision - including deemed access refusals.
It must be made in writing within 30 days of receipt of the decision; no particular form is required but it is desirable to set out in the application the grounds on which you consider the decision should be reviewed.
The application should be addressed to Freedom of Information at [ANU request email].
Application for Information Commissioner Review of decision
Under section 54L of the FOI Act, you may apply to the Australian Information Commissioner to review any decision - including deemed access refusals. An application must be made in writing within 60 days of the date of this email, and be lodged in one of the following ways:
Form: either online form or downloadable form available at https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
Email: [email address]
Post: Director of FOI Dispute Resolution, GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001
More information is available on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner website. https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-infor...
Eilidh left an annotation ()
Peter Tregear's submissions to the Senate's Education and Employment Committee (submission 47): https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ash...