'It suited you': UOW lawyers turn on former Chancellor in ICAC cross-examination
University barrister accused Michael Still of ignoring an expert governance report.
Just five days after he resigned his position, the institution’s legal counsel set its sights on former chancellor Michael Still at the state’s corruption watchdog.
In a stunning pivot at the ICAC Operation Scandi inquiry, UOW’s barrister Kate Morgan launched a blistering cross-examination of Mr Still, accusing him of suppressing a glowing expert report to protect a preferred executive.
Ms Morgan revealed that in early 2024, leading governance expert Dr Michael Tomlinson produced a report concluding the university’s council was operating “diligently and effectively”.
However, when Mr Still voluntarily intervened in a workplace investigation regarding bullying allegations against former Chief Governance Officer Alyssa White, he never mentioned the Tomlinson report. Ms Morgan explicitly accused Mr Still of ignoring the objective assessment because it “suited you” to falsely claim the governance division was under-resourced, thereby defending Ms White against overwork and bullying complaints. Mr Still denied this, claiming he relied on other internal inputs.
Mr Still abruptly resigned as Chancellor last Friday, concluding a turbulent tenure that began in early 2023. He served in the university’s top governance role for approximately two years, with his departure coming amid the intensifying scrutiny of the ongoing corruption inquiry.
Team PTSD and ‘perilous’ threats
The hearing then transformed into a battle of legal narratives. Ms White’s barrister, Peter O’Brien, built a defense portraying UOW as an institution in total operational meltdown. He quoted an internal statement describing the governance team as suffering from “team PTSD”, and established that severe under-resourcing threatened the university’s imminent registration with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.
Mr Still agreed this “perilous” threat justified urgently prioritising the resourcing of Ms White’s division. To explain why lucrative consulting contracts bypassed standard tenders, Mr O’Brien produced an internal audit report suggesting UOW’s central procurement team consisted of just one person.
However, Counsel Assisting Emma Bathurst swiftly demolished that excuse. In her re-examination, she pulled up the exact same internal audit report, directing Mr Still to the appendix which explicitly listed at least four central procurement staff.
Mr Still was forced to walk back his evidence, conceding it “seems likely” the team was not operating alone.
ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi. All named individuals are the subject of allegations at a public inquiry.
