Macquarie University issued SafeWork NSW ‘improvement notice’ over 40+ job cuts

Macquarie University has become the second NSW university in as many months to be put on notice by the state’s workplace health and safety regulator over its approach to sweeping job cuts.

Macquarie University, in Sydney’s northwest. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Macquarie University has become the second NSW university in as many months to be put on notice by the state’s workplace health and safety regulator over its approach to sweeping job cuts.

The Macquarie Park-based institution is set to cull 47.5 full-time equivalent positions in its Faculty of Arts and its Faculty of Science and Engineering for savings of $15.5 million.

In an “improvement notice” issued on Wednesday, a SafeWork NSW inspector determined the university “has not … consulted with workers in accordance with the agreed work health and safety consultation procedures”.

The inspector ordered management to provide the affected and potentially affected staff a “reasonable opportunity to express their views” and “contribute to the decision making process for the proposed workplace changes”, with the university given a deadline of November 13 to comply.

The notice does not prevent the university from pressing ahead with its change proposal, unlike the “prohibition notice” SafeWork slapped on the University of Technology Sydney last month over similar concerns.

The Macquarie University campus at Macquarie Park. Picture: Justin Lloyd

For three days UTS was prevented from undertaking meetings with staff over its proposed faculty mergers, over 100 course suspensions and 400 job cuts due to “a serious and imminent risk of psychological harm” to workers.

Both UTS and Macquarie posted budget deficits in 2024, of $78 million and $3.7 million respectively.

Macquarie University’s change proposal documents blame “policy decisions and policy uncertainty” leading to “a financially constrained” and turbulent environment in the higher education sector for its workforce reductions.

“The University has run at a deficit for five of the last six years, and the 2025 budget … indicates low or no prospect for growth,” the documents state.

Under the June proposal up to 63 positions were on the chopping block - in the Faculty of Arts, eight jobs were set to be slashed from the School of Education, four from International Studies, 15 from Communication, Society and Culture, and 13 from the Humanities school.

In the Faculty of Science and Engineering, the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences would have lost a net total of nine FTE roles, seven in Engineering and Natural Sciences and Computing would lose five each.

Macquarie University Vice-Chancellor Professor Bruce Dowton at a parliamentary hearing in Canberra in February. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

However the university has since confirmed some of the roles proposed to be cut back in the original change proposal have since been moved out of scope as it begins the “implementation phase”.

“The University anticipates that a significant proportion of these reductions will be met through voluntary measures, including voluntary redundancy and pre-retirement contracts,” a spokesman said.

National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) NSW division secretary Vince Caughley said the two SafeWork orders are “unprecedented”.

“In pushing ahead with their damaging change plans, Macquarie University management knew full well what their obligations were under workplace health and safety law, but failed to fulfil them,” he said.

The spokesman said the university “welcomes SafeWork NSW’s constructive feedback” and would continue to work closely with the regulator and staff health and safety representatives.

“Macquarie University takes the safety and wellbeing of its community extremely seriously. We follow best-practice work health and safety and are always open to suggestions where needed,” he said.

Originally published as Macquarie University issued SafeWork NSW ‘improvement notice’ over 40+ job cuts