Vice Chancellor Alex Zelinsky says management will need to find an extra $12-$15m from existing sources

The university has been in talks with the two campus unions to temporarily cut staff conditions and delay pay rises due next month and September next year. Professor Zelinsky says this would have saved up to $15m, “which would have equated to around 120 additional jobs.”

This appears to have met one union demand. On Monday, the campus branch of the National Tertiary Education Union called on management to specify jobs that would go under proposed restructures and how many saved by cost savings.

But management had set a Monday deadline for an agreement – to allow time for an all-staff vote on deferring next month’s pay rise.

With this not happening the university says it has to save $35m next year to cover COVID-19 losses. They will now come in total from, “restructuring, course reviews, and seeking other efficiencies across the institution.”