Monash University is part and parcel of that crisis. Our university also faces many serious questions about its governance and transparency.
Spending on consultants is out of control
Monash University spends heavily on consultants. In the past three years, Monash has spent $38.4 million on consultants, according to its official disclosures.
Monash’s 2024 consultancy disclosures were misstated by $6.8 million
In 2023, Monash University disclosed more than $16 million on consultants spending, including $2.5 million to consultancy Strategic Project Partners, $893,000 to Deloitte and $862,000 to Nous.
In 2024, the University’s official consultancy spending disclosures shrank to just $2.6 million. It was a figure we always believed was a dramatic understatement. The 2024 disclosure statement listed just five consultants, which didn’t seem likely.
Now we know the University got its 2024 consultancy disclosures wrong.
In recent weeks, the University has recently released “supplementary” disclosures for 2024. They show the University failed to disclose a whopping $6.8 million in additional spending on consultancies in their original 2024 disclosure.
The 2025 figures also include a supplementary statement. We’re not sure why the University has decided to do it this way, but once again the supplemental includes a much bigger spend – an extra $10.4 million in 2025.
Who’s taking home the big bucks
Taken together, the last three years of consultancy spending show vast sums of university funding channelled to favoured consultancy firms. The top consultant, Strategic Project Partners, took home more than $4.4 million across 2023-25. Other big consulting contractors included Deloitte, KPMG, Arup and EY.
Top consultancies paid by Monash Uni, 2023-25.
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Strategic Project Partners
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Controversial consultants Nous enjoyed some of the most lucrative contracts, earning $3.9 million over the past three years. Nous consultants have played a key role in Monash University’s current Programmatic Assessment and AI Review.
Nous has a long-standing relationship with Monash senior management, and it contributed advice to senior executives that informed the 2020 restructure that resulted in hundreds of redundancies. (We’re not suggesting that Nous has done anything wrong).
Discrepancies between consultancy payments and “sums of commitment”
Detailed analysis of the consultant disclosures raises many questions. In 2023, the University listed a payment of $107,000 and a “sum of commitment” of $959,000 to “SO IR Pty Ltd”, a one-person consultancy owned by industrial relations consultant Sian Owen.
Ms Owen was well known to the NTEU as the consultant representing Monash University in enterprise bargaining negotiations in 2023 and 2024. On the face of it, it appears that Monash University had committed to spending more than one million dollars on a single consultant, to lead their enterprise bargaining talks.
In 2024, the disclosure report listed SO IR Pty Ltd as receiving another $76,500 for “workplace relations advice”, with a further $661,527 disclosed as a “sum of commitment.” In 2025, SO IR Pty Ltd was paid $34,200, with only $3,000 listed as a sum of commitment.
Something doesn’t add up here. The University disclosed a sum of commitment to SO IR Pty Ltd of $959,000 in 2023. But in 2024 and 2025 it paid around $111,000 to Sian Owen’s consultancy. More than three quarters of a million dollars of “sum of commitments” do not appear to be accounted for; perhaps significant sums are still owed. Despite receiving payments of $34,000 in 2025, we note that on her website, Sian Owen lists her current status as “retired in 2024 and no longer consulting”.(Once again, we’re not suggesting that Sian Owen has done anything improper here).
Across 2023, 2024 and 2025, the University lists a number of expensive payments for “workplace relations” and “industrial relations” advice, despite maintaining two large departments of full-time staff in Monash HR and the Office of General Counsel. We think the lavish expenditure raises questions about why Monash University spends so much on external advice.
Governance at Monash University is still a major concern
The governing Council of Monash University has presided over more than $20 million of wage underpayments to nearly 10,000 staff members in recent years. No university Council member has ever faced any consequences as the governors ultimately responsible for these underpayments.
Despite this, the University recently penned a submission to a Victorian Parliamentary inquiry, arguing that “Monash University regards itself as a well-governed institution.”
Monash’s chairwoman, Chancellor Megan Clark, appears to believe that the governing Council does not require any further staff or student representation. The University’s submission claims that there is “no correlation” between having elected student and staff representatives and better governance, and that increasing elected representation does not ensure diversity of perspectives.
It's a strange argument. Monash University Council currently features just one elected staff and one student representative. No fewer than five members are appointed internally, by the Council itself.
The University’s submission also argues that “students and staff are consulted on and engaged in the development of relevant University guiding documents.”