Adelaide Uni chief releases video over former VC’s ‘obscene’ payday
‘Frustrated and disappointed’: Adelaide University’s new Vice Chancellor has released a video apology to staff over the controversial $3 million payday for a former uni chief.
Adelaide University Vice Chancellor Professor Nicola Phillips has released a video addressing the controversial remuneration of a former University of South Australia leader, saying the arrangements “don’t meet community expectations in our society, nor the expectations of our university community”.
It comes after a report in InDaily revealed that the former University of South Australia Vice Chancellor David Lloyd received a total remuneration for the single year of 2025 of $3.112 million.
“As the new Vice Chancellor of the new Adelaide University, you’ll understand that I’m not able to explain or account for these arrangements; but these issues affect all of us, both within our university and across the sector, and very rightly, they attract wide public interest,” she said in the video to staff seen by InDaily.
“I want to be clear that the arrangements reported in the 2025 and 2026 UniSA financial statements don’t meet community expectations in our society, nor the expectations of our university community.
“I’m also frustrated and disappointed that this news comes so early in our life as Adelaide University, and at a time when we are all working so very, very hard to establish our new institution and build its culture.
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“So, let’s not be distracted from that work, and let me emphasise what I’ve said many times before about the values and the positive mindset that will define Adelaide University – that we’re a public institution working for the public good and that we will continue to conduct ourselves accordingly with integrity, transparency and openness.”
In a statement to the media released yesterday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Adelaide University Council said, “The council of the new Adelaide University recognises and agrees that the recently reported remuneration arrangements of the former Vice Chancellor and the University of South Australia for 2025 and 2026 do not meet community expectations”.
“We understand the public reaction and strong feelings about this matter within our university community.”
An Adelaide University spokesperson confirmed this morning that the university council was considering all available information in relation to the remuneration arrangement, saying that it had not started a formal review.
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South Australian Greens leader Robert Simms, who previously labelled the pay packet “obscene”, welcomed Adelaide University acknowledging the amount “does not accord with community expectations”.
Simms said it raised questions around governance and whether taxpayer money was being appropriately spent, saying university councils should be more representative of the community.
“The reality is, this isn’t an isolated incident – we’ve seen over a number of years now VC salaries being wildly out of step with community expectations, but this is certainly one of the more egregious examples,” he said.
“In terms of the exorbitant payout to the Vice Chancellor of UniSA, I guess the question really needs to be asked is, ‘Why was this decision made to begin with?
“I think we need to end the practice of university councils being dominated by former politicians, corporate CEOs, and the like, and really, they should be people that represent the diversity of the community.”
Dr Andrew Miller, who is secretary for the South Australian arm of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), said that “the Vice Chancellor’s excessive salary is an egregious misuse of the public purse”.
“It’s a slap in the face of all the staff in those universities that are still suffering a tremendous work overload, exhaustion and distress,” he said.
Miller said it pointed to the need for improved governance across the university sector, saying the NTEU had advocated for salaries to be capped at twice that of a professor.
“Our university councils have been captured by corporate sentiment that is completely out of line with community sentiment and expectations and values,” he claimed.
“It’s high time that we reformed university governance so that we can reclaim them for the publics that they’re meant to serve.”
The new Adelaide University cost taxpayers about $450 million and officially opened on January 5 following a merger between the universities of Adelaide and South Australia.
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