On Tuesday 3 June 2025, Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of Australia, hosted Afternoon Tea at Government House in acknowledgement of the important contributions of the University Chancellors Council to the Higher Education sector and the appointment of Professor John Pollaers OAM as Convenor for the UCC.

Below is the address given by the UCC Convenor, Professor John Pollaers OAM at the Afternoon Tea. You can read the Governor-General’s speech here.

Restoring what makes us trusted.

First, thank you to Her Excellency, the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, for your generous hospitality this afternoon.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the Country we are on today, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, who are the traditional custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region.

Your Excellency, Minister, Secretary, Chancellors, and distinguished guests, I’m honoured by this occasion and by the recognition it offers not only to me, but to the University Chancellors Council and the work we are doing to renew confidence in the leadership and integrity of Australian universities.

Our universities are a cornerstone of national life, shaping the future through research, education, and public service. Every day, they foster discovery, lift lives, and help define Australia’s place in the world. That is work we should never take for granted.

With that influence comes responsibility, and in recent months, we have been called to account.

The Nixon Report. Findings of workplace non-compliance. Rising concerns around safety, racism, and freedom of expression. These are not isolated issues. They are symptoms of a deeper challenge to our social licence: the community’s belief that we serve with integrity, openness, and care.

We must be honest about what no longer serves us. Universities can no longer operate as siloed enclaves where decision-making is opaque, where executive leadership is unaccountable to community expectations, or where historic models of collegiality are used to avoid difficult but necessary reform. Equally, the era where employee concerns are voiced solely through adversarial posturing is behind us. We need a new model, one grounded in shared responsibility, transparency, and mutual respect.

Reform must be systemic. It must reach across governance, executive leadership, academic culture, industrial relations, and student experience — to restore what makes universities trusted.

We also must recognise that these challenges have not emerged overnight. Many have developed over decades, shaped by changing expectations, structural complexity, and cultural legacies.

What is different now is that we are facing them.

Not defensively, but constructively. Not alone, but together.

Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of co-chairing a national committee charged with helping the sector respond to these challenges. Through extensive consultation and honest reflection, we’ve started to shift how we approach trust. Trust isn’t something we manage, but something we earn. What we’ve learned is clear: rebuilding confidence doesn’t come from press releases. It comes from leadership that listens. From governing bodies that engage with students and staff, in person and not just on paper. From decisions that are transparent, inclusive, and accountable.

As we move into the next phase, our focus will be on making this change real, putting in place practical ways to support safe campuses, fair work practices, and respectful dialogue on even the most difficult issues.

We are building a new compact: with the community, with our staff, with our students, and with each other.

I want to acknowledge those institutions and leaders who have already stepped forward, not only naming these challenges, but owning them. They are showing that courage and accountability can sit alongside excellence.

Governor-General, your values around kindness, care, and respect – and your message around a gentle thought and outstretched hand, deeply resonate with who we are when we are out our best.

Minister, and Secretary, thank you for commitment to supporting us in getting there.

To my colleagues, thank you for the courage you have shown in recognising that the only path to public trust is through principled, visible, and united action.

Thank you.