By Julie Hare
Rock legends Jimmy Barnes, Tim Rogers, Steve Kilbey and multiple-ARIA-Award-winner Genesis Owusu are among 35 classical musicians, rappers and pop artists pressuring the Australian National University to halt changes to ANU’s storied school of music.
In an open letter, the luminaries called on ANU chancellor Julie Bishop to halt job cuts, retain performance and composition majors, and maintain one-on-one music tuition to avoid a “devastating” impact on students and early career musicians.
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| Rock legend Jimmy Barnes is among 35 musicians to sign a letter calling on ANU to halt any proposed changes. |
The School of Music has been caught up in a vast restructure at the university, aimed to make $250 million in savings.
“If the proposed changes to the School of Music and the curriculum proceed, none of the students graduating will be employable as professional musicians,” the letter reads.
Barnes, legendary frontman for 1970s and ’80s rock band Cold Chisel, said the changes would undermine the training of home-grown musicians.
“I’ve seen how classical training and rock ‘n’ roll can come together to create magic. But that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because we invest in serious music education,” he said.
“If one of our leading universities walks away from its responsibility, it sends a clear message that we don’t value the next generation of musicians, and we can’t let this happen.”
Other names who have joined the call to action include Lindsay McDougall from punk rock band Frenzal Rhomb, The Voice Australia star Lucy Sugerman, classical pianist Simon Tedeschi, music venue Gang Gang and recording house Infidel Studios.
Vice chancellor Genevieve Bell resigned from her position last Thursday after months of turmoil and allegations of mismanagement and poor governance.
Her interim replacement, Professor Rebekah Brown, has not yet given any indication if she will push ahead with the restructure, pause it or call a halt to it indefinitely. More than 100 people are still under threat of involuntary redundancy before the end of the year.
Bishop is also under pressure to stand aside. The National Tertiary Education Union presented a petition signed by more than 2000 staff and students to the ANU council last Friday calling on it to terminate Bishop’s appointment as chancellor and cease any future forced redundancies and proposed changes under Renew ANU restructure.
Robyn Hendry, the chair of the newly formed School of Music Advocacy Roundtable, said she was not surprised by the growing number of high-profile Australians voicing their concerns, given the impact the planned changes will have on an industry already facing significant challenges.
“Cutting off the pipeline of musicians, which is exactly what will happen if ANU pushes these changes through, has a much broader impact than denying music students the education they need and deserve,” Hendry said.
Last month, eight students from the School of Music wrote a six-page letter, to vice chancellor Genevieve Bell, chancellor Julie Bishop and seven other senior executives, claiming the proposed changes to the school were a breach of the institution’s founding legislation and amounted to misleading and deceptive conduct under consumer law.
The proposal to merge the music school into a new School of Creative and Cultural Practice from the beginning of 2026, has “robbed us of the education we were promised and paid for”, they wrote.
“The erosion of one-on-one teaching, the gutting of performance and competition and the casualisation of elite staff have left us feeling abandoned and misled.”
The group wrote that they might take further legal and regulatory action “to protect our legal interests as students”.
First published at The Australian Financial Review, September 17, 2025
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