Julie Bishop resigns as Australian National University chancellor

The former foreign minister, Julie Bishop , has tendered her resignation from the position of chancellor at Australian National University (ANU). The finance minister, Katy Gallagher, said in a statement on Friday morning that the embattled institution would need to continue “rebuilding trust and confidence”. “The challenges facing ANU did not arise overnight, and rebuilding trust and confidence across the university community will take time and careful work,” Gallagher said. “I have consistently said the university leadership and Council need to work openly and constructively with staff, students and the broader community to rebuild confidence and agree on a path forward. “That remains the task ahead for the university.” Independent ACT senator David Pocock, who has repeatedly called Bishop’s leadership into question , praised ANU staff and students for standing together in the “face of poor leadership and governance”. In a Friday statement, Pocock said ANU was founded 80 years ago “as a beacon of hope, of working together and striving for better as a country”. “After an incredibly difficult few years, now is the time to recommit to that mission, that optimism and that vision for what the ANU can be,” he said. Pocock said it had been “scary and difficult” for staff and students to do so, pointing to evidence given in front of a Senate inquiry last year “at great personal cost”. …