"The ANU council approved the $250 million Renew ANU savings target without clear evidence it was needed, achievable, urgently required, or likely to have the intended impact."

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That is the finding of the Australian National Audit Office inquiry into financial management at the Australian National University.

It should end any pretence that Renew ANU was a regrettable but necessary exercise in financial discipline. It was a destructive job cuts program approved by the university's governing body, without the evidence required to justify the damage it would cause.

At ANU, staff were told there was no alternative. We were told the university faced an urgent crisis. We were told cuts had to be made - disciplines savaged, schools and colleges restructured, and colleagues had to lose their jobs.

Since the beginning, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) said that the numbers did not stack up. The Auditor-General has now agreed.

NTEU members stood up when management tried to close on-campus not-for-profit childcare centres. We stood up when management tried to cut pay by 2.5 per cent. We stood up when the chancellor and vice-chancellor pressed ahead with a program that would have gutted the university on the basis of unaudited and inconsistently applied financial measures.

We organised, argued, voted no confidence, demanded documents, challenged the narrative and refused to let management call destruction "reform".

Our union succeeded in stopping job cuts. We have seen off a chancellor and a vice-chancellor, and we put university governance on the national agenda.

The ANAO report vindicates that struggle. While council members "approved Renew ANU without a clear understanding of the problem" we........

© Canberra Times