OpinionAugust 10, 2026 — 5:00amWant to appear before Senate Estimates, undergo a huge amount of scrutiny, wrangle an unruly workforce and sort out a 2IC who is only acting in the role?Then you’re in luck, because Australia’s most scrutinised university job – the ANU chancellorship – is up for grabs!Then-chancellor Julie Bishop fronts the media after a meeting with ANU staff in September.Alex EllinghausenSince Julie Bishop’s scandal-plagued tenure came to an abrupt end earlier this year, the nation’s university has been hand in glove with the regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Authority, looking for her replacement.University watchers may recall that Bishop blamed the authority’s close interest in her successor as the reason she upped stumps seven months early, saying “coercive threats” and “increasingly contemptuous intervention” left her with no choice but to leave.Canberra circles are talking about former Victoria Police head honcho and author of one of the many reports about ANU’s troubles, Christine Nixon, as a potential replacement. Nixon is said to be close to the acting chancellor, Rebecca Brown, and the pair sat down for an interview about the uni’s troubled school of health and medicine with ANU’s student rag, Woroni, last year.But one source close to ANU and its machinations reckons they won’t go with another woman. Sigh!Other names in the ring include not one but two of Australia’s former Chief Scientists – Alan Finkel and Ian Chubb. Chubb, it’s worth noting, was the vice-chancellor at ANU for a decade, well before its current struggles began.Former Dragon hits up divorcing dadsFrom the heady days of professional rugby league to stealing $140,000 worth of cryptocurrency, life is rich indeed for former St George-Illawarra footballer Trent Merrin.Of late: in 2025, the 36-year-old father-of-two was charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception after a year-long police investigation into missing Bitcoin swiped from his St George-Illawarra Dragons teammate Kaide Ellis. Merrin got an early Christmas present last year when he was handed an 18-month community release order without conviction.Clearly his brush with the law has given Merrin some ideas, with the former boyfriend of surfer Sally Fitzgibbons now spruiking a “playbook” for aggrieved dads navigating separation for $395 a session.Trent Merrin was arrested and charged in 2025 over missing Bitcoin.Nine News“During our 90 minutes together, we’ll work through what’s happening, identify the things within your control and begin building your Playbook for the road ahead. Your solicitor handles the law. We support the person going through it,” says the Instagram link to a booking page.Merrin is not a lawyer, it notes, but is happy to hook you up with the lawyers he works in partnership with.Questions to Merrin about the exact nature of the arrangement went unanswered.More:CBDOpinionFor subscribersAlan FinkelJulie BishopSt George Illawarra DragonsANUFrom our partners