UOW's former chancellor grilled over secret texts and undeclared 'association'

Michael Still's evidence to continue

Jul 06, 2026

Former UOW chancellor Michael Still will spend another day giving testimony at ICAC. Image by Google Gemini

University of Wollongong Chancellor Michael Still was pressed by the state’s corruption commissioner on two fronts: undisclosed texts with a conflicted executive, and an undeclared 20-year association with a consultant.

Mr Still, who on Friday quit as chancellor, was the sole witness on Day 11 of the ICAC Operation Scandi inquiry into allegations of corruption at the highest levels of UOW’s leadership.
Counsel Assisting Emma Bathurst spent a deal of time earlier showing evidence of Mr Still repeatedly clashing with his own human resources and legal chiefs while working closely with former chief governance officer Alyssa White, another of ICAC’s subjects of interest.

The afternoon session first targeted Mr Still’s WhatsApp exchanges with Ms White. The inquiry heard the Chancellor provided regular updates regarding internal resistance to the creation of her new “vice president” role. When Ms Bathurst suggested he was providing a “running commentary” to a conflicted applicant, Mr Still defended the texts, testifying he was merely updating her on the progress of the paperwork, not the role itself.

However, the scrutiny intensified when texts revealed Ms White had explicitly messaged the-then Chancellor: “I am conflicted”.

‘A few rungs down from you’

Mr Still testified under oath that it did not register she needed to be managed out of the process, claiming he believed her text referred to a completely different issue. This prompted a sharp interjection from Commissioner Paul Lakatos, who openly questioned the former chancellor’s probity oversight.

“If she knew, Mr Still, that she was conflicted in drafting the paper... and she’s a few rungs down from you, and you are the leader of the university with all the obligations that you had, it didn’t even enter your mind,” Commissioner Lakatos said.

Ms White was not promoted to the $388,000 role and remained on her $300,000+ until she resigned two days before the ICAC hearing began.

HR chief’s notes disputed

Further WhatsApp messages tendered as evidence showed Mr Still actively corresponding with Ms White about how to navigate the university’s standard enterprise agreement consultations. When Ms White alerted the-then chancellor that her potential interview might be delayed until June due to industrial risks, Mr Still immediately replied: “That’s no good. What’s the way around it?”. When pressed on the exchange by Counsel Assisting, Mr Still admitted under oath that he was actively looking to avoid the delay and wanted a “quicker way forward” than June.

When confronted with contemporaneous file notes taken by UOW’s top people and culture executive, Alison Bourke, detailing his demands to bypass standard processes, Mr Still pushed back. The chancellor actively disputed the official records under oath, testifying he believed several elements were “untrue”. He specifically denied making statements attributed to him by HR, including that “process prevents the right decision”.

The Aspirall contract

The afternoon session further expanded the scope of the Chancellor’s alleged governance failures, pivoting to expose his intimate involvement in awarding a $49,600 un-tendered contract to Aspirall Consulting.

Mr Still admitted under oath he had known Aspirall CEO Tanya Diesel for 20 years, socialising at business and family events, and regularly acting as her professional reference. He described her to the commission as a “good acquaintance”.

This echoed Ms Diesel’s own evidence last week, when she told the inquiry: “I have a long-term business association with him over 22 years.I do not have a friendship with him.”

Despite this long-standing relationship, the inquiry heard Mr Still never formally declared the conflict in writing when he recommended her firm to conduct focus groups for the Vice-Chancellor recruitment process.

“I thought I’d done what was necessary,” Mr Still testified, claiming he verbally told the governance team he knew her well.

The inquiry heard Mr Still acted as a de facto client on the project, exchanging texts with Ms Diesel, reviewing draft reports, and having a section titled “Chancellor’s Outcomes” altered because it represented his brief to the firm.

However, when pressed by Counsel Assisting on whether he formally approved Aspirall’s commercial engagement, Mr Still drew a firm line, prompting a second intervention from Commissioner Lakatos to clarify the former chancellor’s defense.

Mr Still testified he only approved the firm’s “scope of work”. He claimed he had “nothing to do with contractual or the procurement” aspects, and had no idea the $49,600 was being paid out of the controversial Council Discretionary Fund.

“I had no idea where [the money] was. I just presumed that she was organising that in the proper way,” Mr Still said.

Mr Still’s testimony will continue on Tuesday. The remaining three days of the hearing are scheduled to be set aside for Ms White’s evidence.

ICAC has made no findings in Operation Scandi. All named individuals are the subject of allegations at a public inquiry.