Within an hour of her appointment criticism commenced

In part this was because she was government minister when Christopher Pyne tried to deregulate student fees.

But there was also arcane-ANU alarm that Ms Bishop might back proposals in the 2014 Walker governance review, for staff and students on council to be individually elected, rather than appointed on the basis of representative positions held.

Successive coalition governments never got around to legislating the review, but it is on the list for this session.