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.
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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...
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-----Original Message-----
From: Eilidh <[FOI #13976 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, 5 November 2025 4:03 PM
To: Freedom of Information <[ANU request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Submissions to Senate
[You don't often get email from [FOI #13976 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]
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
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