On 30 August 2025, I submitted a Right to Information (RTI) application to UTAS about Vice-Chancellor (VC) Black’s recently announced appointment to the Board of Deloitte.
The information I obtained was compelling – VC Black had a conflict of interest that could not be ‘healed’ and the process whereby he applied for the appointment, and his appointment was ‘authorised’, within UTAS was shambolic, with every principle of good governance abandoned, as clearly evidenced by UTAS’ own documents.
- See my blog post of 17 March 2026 VC Black’s Deloitte appointment is a conflict of interest and exposes UTAS governance failures, including Appendix 2 in which UTAS’ documents are fully reproduced.
- Between VC Black’s arrival at UTAS in March 2018 and my first RTI application in August 2025, UTAS paid Deloitte $10.52 million across more than 60 contracts – and VC Black now sits on Deloitte’s board.
I have no doubt that if UTAS were in NSW or Victoria, VC Black would have resigned as VC of UTAS by now and that Chancellor Watkins would also likely be ‘out the door’.
- In NSW, the University of Wollongong’s chancellor resigned within weeks of a public inquiry by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) into the alleged failure to manage a consultancy conflict of interest involving the interim vice-chancellor; in Tasmania, a conflict of the same species has now run unaddressed for the best part of a year – because there is no equivalent watchdog to answer to.
I intend to keep shining a light on VC Black’s Deloitte appointment, until it gains an appropriate – that is, a very high – level of scrutiny.
To that end I have submitted a further RTI application to UTAS that is aimed at bringing the story up to date and exposing further issues. This link provides the substance of the application, which is also reproduced below.
