ROD HENSHAW is called into the vice-chancellor’s office for a sit-down interview with UC’s new boss Bill Shorten, who’s arrived with no regrets and lots of passion for the job – and with everything Canberra.

Our first glimpse of Bill Shorten came in the aftermath of the Beaconsfield mine disaster of April, 2006.

As national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, he fronted the cameras and microphones incessantly throughout the tense 14-day rescue mission to bring the remaining three miners out from the collapse.

Two of them came out alive, but tragically the third didn’t make it. The younger Shorten etched an indelible image on viewers around Australia and beyond with his softly-spoken, almost shy daily addresses with many observers tipping future greatness for his calm handling of the mass media against a background of adversity.

Fast-forward to May, 2025 and the journey from Beaconsfield to the cut and thrust of Labor politics to academia as the recently minted vice-chancellor of University of Canberra has given the word “transitional” a whole new dimension.

Not forgetting his coming within a cat’s whisker of attaining the highest political office in the land, only to be pipped at the post by Scott Morrison’s “miracle” win in 2019.

So, has the change of pace from politics to the office of a university vice-chancellor been a smooth ride?

“One of my favourite TV shows is Ted Lasso. Ted goes from one football code on one continent to another football code in another country. Maybe there’s a bit of that,” he says.

“This person’s journey shows that while some of the customs and traditions are different, there are common values,” he says.

Perhaps out of modesty, Bill Shorten doesn’t continue the Lasso analogy, where the owner of his new team secretly hopes Ted’s inexperience will lead it to failure. The opposite happens; Lasso’s leadership turns out to be unexpectedly successful!

At the time of this sit-down interview, it’s just after the federal election, which saw a resounding victory for his old team. Does he have just the slightest twinge of “what if”? His response is emphatic.

“No, I’m at ease with the decisions I’ve made. I’ve contributed where I could on that stage. I’m very proud of the NDIS, very proud of the Robodebt Royal Commission and my time leading the Labor Party,” he says.

“After our shocking defeat in 2013, I know I helped make Labor electable. We got close and then Anthony (Albanese) finished the deal.

“Personally, I’ve been a Labor man all my life so I’m pleased when your team wins but that’s my old world.” 

While he’s happily ensconced in his new world, he’s hardly oblivious to the implications of the Labor win and he readily sees how it could favourably impact on universities generally.

“At last we have certainty. I have to say, having been in the political world, I never realised how much an election stops everything else outside. I’m relieved that we’ve got a verdict and now we can get on with the agenda,” he says. 

“The federal government is proposing to revisit the short-sighted job-ready policies of the previous Coalition government. They’ll now start rolling out what they call the Higher Education Accord, so that means we’ll have a chance to sit down with the government and work through what the University of Canberra needs.”

It’s well chronicled that UC’s finances aren’t in good shape and undoubtedly Bill Shorten has inherited a raft of problems that had their roots well before his appointment to the job. He’s had to make difficult decisions including implementing voluntary and forced redundancies. Something that wouldn’t sit comfortably with a lifelong union man.

“It’s not great at all. It’s not my feelings that matter; it’s the feelings of the people who do their job. I do know one thing, you either take some action now or you lose more jobs down the track.

“This university and all universities have been changing and I’m not sure we’ve been keeping up with the changes.

“What we’ve been tending to do is fill courses, hire people and hope the students will come. The problem with that strategy is if people don’t come… you’ve built the courses, spent the money, hired the people and paid the wages. Fixed costs have gone up. So, the first strategy is to reduce our fixed costs.

“We’re also looking at how we grow the organisation – how we grow the footprint of the University of Canberra. Last year the balance sheet was probably in deficit above $40-million in an operating sense. I’m quietly optimistic we can get close to zero within 12 months.

“But I still want to maintain our excellent offering for school leavers and internationals.”

Despite the challenges facing the university, there’s no doubt Bill Shorten is loving his new job. Free of the shackles and confines of disciplined party politics, he’s not afraid to offer his five cents’ worth on matters well outside the purview of academic responsibilities. And now that he’s enthusiastically embraced the national capital as home, he’s more than happy to take up the cudgels in the interests of Canberrans.

He’d barely settled his feet under his new vice-chancellor’s desk when he lashed out at Qantas, which he says is “ripping off” Canberrans with exorbitant airfares. No breaking news there, but it was a surprising intervention coming from a university head. Did he get any bites from the airline for that riposte?

“Not yet. Qantas is a formidable proposition. I don’t expect them to immediately stop ripping off Canberrans. You watch the flight fluctuations. Canberrans live here 365 days a year. The airfares surge when parliament is sitting and I think there’s a view (within Qantas) that everyone can afford to pay top dollar – and that’s not fair. It’s also not fair on Australian taxpayers or Australian shareholders.”

He doesn’t buy the proposition that fares are cheaper if you book well in advance.

“If you’ve got to go to a funeral or you’ve got a child that’s sick somewhere… you can’t plan your life around when Qantas has cheap tickets for sale.”

Finally, has a trend now been established where retiring senior politicians can look to university positions for the next chapter of their working lives? Former Liberal minister Julie Bishop currently serves as chancellor of the nearby Australian National University. Do they ever meet up over a coffee?

“No, I haven’t had time, but I certainly will. Jules and I get on well. So I like her.” 

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