Dewar admits to breach of duties, overriding misconduct probe
Day of high drama ends inquiry's second week
The University of Wollongong’s governance crisis has claimed its most senior figure, with Chancellor Michael Still resigning on the exact day the state’s corruption watchdog heard devastating admissions from his hand-picked former interim Vice-Chancellor.
Capping off a day of high drama at the ICAC Operation Scandi inquiry, Professor John Dewar, a KordaMentha partner, admitted he breached his duties to the university by giving his own consulting firm an inside advantage to win a lucrative contract.
Under intense cross-examination, Prof Dewar conceded that by drafting the tender scope and feeding internal UOW financial slides directly to KordaMentha’s pitch team, he provided an advantage that breached his obligation not to improperly use his position.
Prof Dewar earlier admitted to Counsel Assisting Emma Bathurst that he reviewed draft proposals because his intention was to help his firm “put its best foot forward” during the live bidding process.
But the procurement admissions were only half the story on the day the Chancellor quit. The afternoon session exposed Prof Dewar’s handling of the university’s internal human resources scandals, revealing he intervened to halt a formal misconduct investigation into former chief governance officer Alyssa White.
‘Dishonest conduct’ finding
The inquiry heard the university’s Serious Wrongdoing Reporting Committee had made a finding of “dishonest conduct” against Ms White on the balance of probabilities. The committee formally recommended she be investigated for corruption or serious misconduct.
Rather than action the recommendation, Prof Dewar testified he felt there was a “mismatch” between the facts and the severity of the finding. He sought a second opinion from external lawyers and ultimately rejected the committee’s recommendation. The inquiry heard the university’s own integrity chief was overridden, and Ms White was instead provided with “counselling and guidance”.
The executive dysfunction surrounding Ms White’s position did not end there. The inquiry heard executives were simultaneously scrambling over a controversial proposal to expand her chief governance officer position into a newly-created “vice president strategy and executive affairs” role to appease incoming vice-chancellor Professor Max Lu.
Prof Dewar admitted he told Mr Still the fast-tracked executive appointment was a “bad idea”. He testified that creating a lucrative new senior role while simultaneously laying off university staff looked “terrible,” and risked a massive backlash.
He also noted he believed Prof Lu was receiving advice from the Chancellor without a full picture of how the plan would be perceived locally.
Barrister pushes back
Despite these serious optical and procedural concerns - and the fact Ms White was ultimately sidelined from applying for the expanded role - emails showed Prof Dewar worked to expedite the recruitment process to ensure shortlisted applicants could be interviewed during Prof Lu’s March 2025 campus visit.
Ms White resigned her position at UOW days before the ICAC inquiry began on June 22.
Late in the day, Michael Still’s barrister Amelia Avery-Williams pushed back on two points central to earlier evidence. She challenged his earlier claim that KordaMentha would “very likely” win the diagnostic tender, suggesting it was merely his own interpretation of a conversation, not Mr Still’s actual words - a point Prof Dewar accepted. She also suggested the initial “diagnostic review proposal” originated as a suggestion from Mr Still rather than a formal request, which Prof Dewar did not dispute.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi. All named individuals are the subject of allegations at a public inquiry.
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