A deepening crisis is engulfing the Australian Catholic University, its finances in a parlous state and enrolments dropping from a vertiginous height under vice-chancellor Zlatko Skrbis. Hard to believe (but reliably informed) is that the balance sheet has moved from a $50m surplus to a deficit of roughly the same amount – if not more – since Skrbis took control in 2021.
Vast amounts of money have apparently been spent on an endless series of vanity projects. They include a significant plunge on online learning and IT upgrades that promised to rake in international enrolments. That failed to materialise. A separate program for military veterans costs a lot but doesn’t make any money.
For further evidence of the dysfunction, just take a look at the ACU’s position on the World University Ranking index, where it held a respectable position for many years and then, suddenly, in 2024, dropped more than 100 points, a massive embarrassment in academic circles.
What else? In March the university’s chief operating officer and deputy vice-chancellor, Stephen Weller, was summarily let go without notice after 11 years of service. We hear that he returned to his office afterwards and found the mobile phone and computer had already been switched off.
Weller is one of many staff with Catholic loyalties who’ve either been purged or are leaving of their own accord. Employees at the managerial level in finance and marketing have also, apparently, been told their contracts won’t be renewed at the end of the year.
All of which seems to aid a rumour of Vatican interest in the university’s affairs. No response from ACU when we asked about that, but our understanding is that there’s concern out of the Dicastery for Culture and Education around all this alleged mismanagement, and particularly of some aspects of the curriculum being removed (mainly those pertaining to Catholicism).
It’s a long way off, but the risk of any Vatican probe is that the university could lose its faith designation, which, if it were to happen, would make Notre Dame the pre-eminent Catholic university in the country.
Having a ball
Any coincidence that federal Labor MP Josh Burns and his partner, Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, were guests of the Herald Sun newspaper at the Midwinter Ball on Wednesday evening?
It’s only notable because Burns and Purcell were given much space in that organ last weekend to bemoan the “harmful gossip and speculation” afflicting their dating life – and to simultaneously release photographs of themselves announcing that they’d be attending the midwinter ball together.
Nobody cares. If there’s even a modicum of interest in these people it’s because Burns is a Zionist who’s been subjected to anti-Semitic attacks; meanwhile Purcell is a mindless chant-zombie of the pro-Palestinian activist class, whose people are behind the aggression and hostilities.
Purcell’s commitment to spreading dangerous, irresponsible misinformation on this topic hasn’t abated in recent months.
That includes a post on Instagram made a fortnight ago, in which she said: “Most recently, occupation forces disguised as humanitarian aid trucks infiltrated the Nuseirat refugee camp killing over 276 Palestinians.”
No mention that this “infiltration” involved the historic rescue of four Israeli hostages held for eight months by Hamas.
No mention that these hostages were deliberately held in a civilian region to heighten the risk of casualties in a rescue.
No mention of Hamas militants in the casualty numbers. No mention that any recorded casualties (the actual number not known) were likely to have been caused, in very large part, by machinegun fire and RPG rockets fired by Hamas militants at the getaway vehicles.
At a certain point we do have to wonder if Burns is even trying to rein in Purcell’s harmful bullshit online.
Banton’s battle
“Powerhouse lawyer” Amanda Banton, as she calls herself, sent her people back to court on Thursday for a second shot at convincing a judge that her firm hadn’t just copied out someone’s else’s homework. Why would anyone flagrantly risk their reputation doing this? To win some work, of course.
Banton Group is hoping to edge out Echo Law and Piper Alderman for control of a class-action lawsuit against the Andrew Budzinski-backed IC Markets. It’s being sued over its CFD trading, or for basically giving clients – those who lost money – the leverage they were seeking. Go figure.
We’ve chronicled some of this saga already. Echo Law and Piper Alderman have teamed up against Banton, and so it’s now with the courts to decide which firm gets to run the case (based on whose economics tally up better for the clients). Hearings to decide this are dubbed a “beauty parade”, and when Banton’s statement of claim lobbed in May it was quickly panned for copying out much of Echo Law’s submission and just changing the name on the front page.
Well, on Thursday, the Banton lawyers were back in court and their filing was once again dismissed as “simply a copy” of those already filed by Echo Law and Piper Alderman. Federal Court Justice Michael O’Bryan seemed to agree (“It looks like a copy and paste job,” he said) and even though judgment was reserved, O’Bryan did make a number of remarks that suggest Banton Group is hardly a lock to win this battle. More to come.
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Optus goes silent on Tesla deal
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