The National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence is now in effect, and for student accommodation providers the conversation is moving into its most important phase: what does implementation actually look like when something goes wrong?
That question will be at the centre of the Student Accommodation Association’s (SAA) Industry Lunch in Melbourne on Thursday, 8 October, bringing together representatives from government, student accommodation, education and specialist services to examine how the new requirements can be translated into practical action.
Held at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne, the event is deliberately framed around the journey “From Code to Practice”, reflecting a reality facing accommodation operators across the country. Having a national framework is one thing. Ensuring staff understand their responsibilities, residents know where to turn, incidents are appropriately escalated and organisations can respond consistently is another.
And it is arguably in student accommodation where that distinction matters most.
Accommodation is not simply another service provided to students. It is where many students live, socialise and build their communities, often away from family and their established support networks for the first time. Residential environments can therefore play an important role in student safety and wellbeing, but they can also present complex operational challenges when concerns about gender-based violence emerge.
For accommodation providers, that means the Code cannot simply sit within a policy folder or compliance framework. Its effectiveness will ultimately be judged by what happens on the ground, including at 2am on a Saturday night when a resident makes a disclosure and the staff member receiving it has to know what to do.
Michele Clark, Assistant Secretary with the Higher Education Gender-based Violence Regulator at the Australian Government Department of Education, will deliver a keynote on “Setting the Standard: The National Code and the Future of Safe Student Accommodation”.
Clark will provide a regulatory perspective on the intent and expectations of the National Code, including what meaningful implementation should look like within student accommodation.
The perspective from the frontline will come from Matt Borg, Chief Executive Officer of Constant Security Services, who will address “At the Front Line: Building an Effective Operational Response to Gender-Based Violence”.
Drawing on experience supporting universities, residential colleges and private student accommodation providers, Borg will focus on the practical realities of responding when incidents or concerns arise, particularly outside standard operating hours.
That includes questions around roles and responsibilities, reporting, escalation, decision-making and coordination between frontline staff, institutional leaders and specialist services.
Those are not necessarily the glamorous parts of student accommodation, but they are increasingly becoming some of the most important.
The event will also feature a panel discussion, “Closing the Gap: Governance, Capability and Frontline Delivery”, facilitated by Professor Kent Anderson. Joining Clark and Borg on the panel will be Kim Copeland, Principal Consultant at Avyon Consulting & Avyon Training Solutions.
The combination of regulatory, operational and specialist perspectives is arguably one of the strengths of the event. The implementation challenge is unlikely to be solved by regulation alone, nor by accommodation operators working in isolation. It requires organisations to understand what is expected of them and then build the capability, systems and culture to deliver on those expectations.
For providers, that raises some fairly practical questions. Are staff sufficiently trained? Are reporting and escalation pathways clear? Does everyone understand who takes responsibility when an incident occurs? Are after-hours arrangements robust? And how effectively do accommodation operators work with universities, emergency services and specialist support organisations?
These are the sorts of questions that can expose the gap between having a policy and having a functioning response.
The SAA says the lunch is designed for organisations that are developing, embedding or refining their approach, and is encouraging attendees to bring team members directly involved in implementation, including those working across student safety, wellbeing, operations, complaints and incident response.
The Code’s success will depend not just on senior leaders understanding their obligations, but on the people closest to students knowing what those obligations mean in practice.
The Melbourne lunch therefore offers an opportunity to move the discussion beyond compliance and towards capability. For an industry increasingly focused on the quality and safety of the student experience, that is a conversation worth having.
The SAA Industry Lunch will be held from 11.30am to 3.30pm on Thursday, 8 October 2026, at Crowne Plaza Melbourne, 1-5 Spencer Street.
Tickets include a two-course meal, with prices ranging from $120 for SAA Executive Members to $175 for non-members.
Places are limited and registration closes at COB Friday, 2 October 2026. For more information and to register, see here.
