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University of Wollongong chancellor Michael Still has stood down from the role while due to give evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The ICAC is midway through a multi-week public hearing into the university, examining whether Still or other staff had improperly awarded work to a consulting firm called Aspirall Consulting, whether Still or other staff had failed to manage a conflict of interest with interim vice chancellor John Dewar and another consulting firm, KordaMentha, of which he is a partner, and whether chief governance officer and secretary Alyssa White – who herself quit two days before the public hearing began – or any other UOW staff had been “intentionally subverting recruitment processes” to benefit White’s friends.
Still is due to be the next witness appearing at the inquiry and is expected to take the stand early next week.
In a statement, Still said his departure was the best option.
“In order to best serve the interests of the university, its staff and students, and to ensure that leadership renewal can occur without interruption, I have decided that I should resign from council effective immediately so that the next chancellor can be sought,” he said.
He had previously stepped down from the role pending the outcome of the inquiry.
On Thursday, the ICAC heard that as the university was wooing Dewar to act as interim vice chancellor, Still told him it was “very likely” that his consulting firm would win work at that very university.
Dewar told his KordaMentha boss Henriette Rothschild in an email in May 2024 that Still had said “they are running it in a way that makes it very likely we will win” the diagnostic work with the university. There were two other contenders, the email tendered to the ICAC said – a big four that “won’t get it” and a smaller outfit that had done work for the university with which it was displeased.
KordaMentha then prepared a draft scope of work for the university, for which they would later tender.
“I was responding to a request from the chancellor,” Dewar told counsel assisting Emma Bathurst when she asked if that was designed to benefit KordaMentha.
In hindsight, he conceded, “I can see it might look inappropriate, but he’d asked for it”.
Still will appear at the ICAC next week.
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