In a significant Senate development this week, the Labor and Liberal parties voted against independent Senator David Pocock’s motion seeking to require the ANU to produce key documents.

On 31 July, Senator Pocock lodged multiple notices of motion to be debated during the Senate sitting week of 23–25 August. 

The motions, if adopted, would have required  the ANU to table a range of materials by 28 August, including budgets for all ANU Colleges (April–October 2024), internal budget forecasts for 2024–27, and a moratorium on further redundancies or terminations pending the release of a Senate inquiry into university governance. If it had passed and the university did not comply with the order, it could have been in contempt of parliament.

Each of these motions was narrowly defeated, with divisions recording 16 votes in favour and between 26–27 against. Labor senators voted with the Coalition to block the orders.

In a media release on social media, Pocock stated it was “Unfathomable that Labor would side with university leadership over the staff and students desperate for transparency.”

He continued, “Labor & the Coalition have teamed up today to run a political protection racket instead of putting the interests of the staff and students at ANU first.”

Pocock did succeed in securing Senate agreement on two other motions: one requiring the release of Office of National Intelligence assessments on climate change risks to national security (Motion 75, agreed without dissent), and another on a review of public sector board appointment processes (Motion 81, carried 35–20).

The mixed results highlight both the Senate’s willingness to demand transparency on national security and governance issues, and Labor’s resistance to enforcing parliamentary scrutiny over the ANU’s internal operations.

The defeated motions leave the ANU under no parliamentary obligation to release the requested material, though scrutiny will continue through the ongoing Senate inquiry into university governance.