The National Higher Education Code to Prevent And Respond to Gender-Based Violence was established by the Federal Government earlier this year and is due to come into effect on January 1, 2026. 

Arc has been consulting with UNSW administration to ensure that we, and by extension, all Arc-affiliated Clubs adhere to the new requirements of the Code, and as such, we require all Arc-affiliated clubs and their executives to agree to, and sign an updated Affiliation Agreement that is aligned with the changes as outlined under the Code.  

The updates to the Affiliation Agreement include, but are not limited to: 

• Enforced compliance with all UNSW & Arc Policies with relation to Gender-Based Violence 

• All Executives are required to complete mandatory training as per Arc requirements, and that any member of a club that participates in high-risk activities (such as camps, overnight events, mentoring roles or anyone with direct responsibility for participant safety) also complete the Gender-Based Violence training. 

• Ensure that any club member (including, but not limited to executives, directors, subcommittee, camp leaders, trainers or coaches, or any other person in a leadership position) when engaged with ‘child-related work’ holds a valid Working With Children Check (WWCC) at all times. 

• Maintain accurate records of WWCC clearances and provide them to Arc and UNSW upon request for compliance and auditing purposes.  

• Keep records of completed mandatory training and provide them to Arc upon request for compliance monitoring or audits. 

• Any breach of Arc or UNSW policies by an Affiliated Club or its members may result in disciplinary action, including (but not limited to) suspension, disaffiliation and/or referral of the matter to the UNSW Conduct and Integrity Office for investigation. 

It is mandatory for all Arc-affiliated clubs and their executives, to sign this new Affiliation Agreement and complete their Gender-Based Violence Training in Moodle prior to O-Week 2026. Failure to do so will result in the disaffiliation of your club from Arc. 

Clubs and their Executives that we have identified require a WWCC have been notified separately in an email, alongside a link on how to obtain their clearance. Anyone who wishes to obtain a WWCC may do so by following the link below, regardless of whether your club is listed.  

How to comply with the new requirements

The new Affiliation Agreement can be found here

Please fill out the form by listing all elected Executive for 2026 and have them sign the Affiliation Agreement. We will not accept initials as signatures and signatures must be made by the Executive in question. We will be comparing signatures, and the list of Executive provided in the Affiliation Agreements signed by Executive as part of your reaffiliation to confirm that these signatures and the list of Executive are legitimate. It is your responsibility as Executive to ensure this is done correctly – if we spot an error, we will notify you to fix the errors but will not extend the deadline.  

Once you've completed the Affiliation Agreement, please submit it here:

Sign into Rubric

Go to Forms -> Affiliation Processes -> Clubs Affiliation Agreement Form

Gender-Based Violence Training 

You can log-in and complete the Gender-Based Violence online training via Moodle. The link, and further information is available here:  

https://www.arc.unsw.edu.au/clubs/club-forms/agms-and-reaffiliation-resources/club-executives-training 

The deadline for completing this training has been extended to 19 January 2026, to align the deadline for the Affiliation Agreement. 

Working With Children Check 

To obtain your free Working With Children Check please go to this website and follow the instructions: 

Apply for a Working with Children Check | Service NSW 

Timeline

Below is a timeline of requirements for Clubs and their Executives with regards to the changes: 

Today – Notice, and a link to the updated Agreement and where to submit has been provided as a link within this email. A link to the Working With Children Check Application has been provided, and a link to the Gender-Based Violence Training (Online Training) has also been provided. 

January 18 – All executives of each club must have signed the new Affiliation Agreement, submitted it via Rubric, and completed the Gender-Based Violence Training via Moodle. Failure to do so by this date will result in the removal of your club from O-Week 2026, and the refund of your deposit. 

January 27 – All executives of each club must have done all of the above and if required by Arc, sought to obtain their WWCC. Failure to do so by this date will result in the immediate disaffiliation of your club to Arc. 

O-Week 2026 – Any clubs or executives that attend O-Week without having completed these requirements will be informed of their disaffiliation and will not be allocated a stall, be asked to leave the site, and be directed to not set up a stall or engage with students that week. Arc Clubs Staff will be performing spot-checks on relevant clubs to determine if their executives have their WWCC check, or are in the process of obtaining it. Clubs with Executives that have been found to not have a WWCC or are not in the process of obtaining one will be told to immediately close their O-Week stall until such time as they start the process of obtaining one via the NSW Government website, and will not be allowed to reopen their stall until such time as they obtain proof that they have sought to obtain their WWCC.

Extensions will only be granted in exceptional circumstances and if you require one you must notify us of this prior to January 18th 2026. Any requests for extensions after this date will be denied.

Arc wishes to ensure that our Clubs that are affiliated with Arc not only adhere to the Code but are places of safety for all its members and their guests, and we look forward to working with clubs to ensure that this happens.