Welcome and acknowledgement of country

Keynote | Opening address

MORE TO COME

Panel | Geopolitical Instability and the Implications for Australia’s Higher Education Sector

A focused, high-level discussion examining the economic and workforce implications of current geopolitical instability for the Australia's higher education sector. This session will explore financial pressures, student demand shifts and the regulatory and industrial relations constraints shaping the sector's ability to respond. The conversation will be anchored in practical, productivity-focused solutions, identifying what policy, workforce and delivery changes would most meaningfully support sector sustainability through a period of prolonged uncertainty.

Keynote | Why Heart and Grit Are the True Superpowers of Exceptional Leadership

This keynote explores Why Heart and Grit Are the True Superpowers of Exceptional Leadership. The most enduring and effective leaders are defined not by title or authority, but by heart and grit.

Heart represents values-based leadership: empathy, integrity, courage, and the ability to genuinely connect with people. It is the foundation of trust, culture, and influence.

Grit is the capacity to endure, adapt, and lead through adversity — to stay the course when pressure is high, outcomes are uncertain, and the path forward is uncomfortable.

Together, heart and grit form an unstoppable leadership and competitive advantage.

Session highlights:

• Identify the ‘Heart’ of leadership to empower and inspire
• Recognise and harness ‘Grit’ as a powerful force to achieve leadership objectives
• Apply a practical playbook to engage ‘Heart and Grit’ to deliver truly exceptional leadership

Please join us in the foyer to network with your colleagues and enjoy morning tea.

Keynote | FairWork Ombudsman Update

More coming soon

Keynote | Building high-trust cultures in times of change

In a period where universities are navigating ongoing transformation, uncertainty and shifting expectations, the ability to build and sustain trust has become a critical leadership capability.

This session explores the role leaders play in shaping culture during times of change, drawing on lessons learned from complex institutional environments. It will examine what enables trust, what erodes it, and how leaders can rebuild it with clarity and intention.

Session Highlights:

• Understand the key drivers that strengthen or undermine trust during organisational change in university settings
• Identify the behaviours, communication practices and decision‑making patterns that create high‑trust environments.
• Gain insights into lessons learned from complex institutional contexts, including what supports trust repair.

Please join us to network with your colleagues and enjoy lunch.

Keynote | Update from the Sex Discrimination Commissioner

Dr Anna Cody, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, works to advance gender equality and end discrimination through law, advocacy, and education.

More to come.

Panel | Gender-Based Violence Hypothetical

In the tradition of Geoffrey Robertson's legendary hypothetical format, this session drops a panel of legal, HR, student safety and governance experts into an unfolding scenario that gets progressively harder to solve. Just when they think they have the answer, the facts change. Just when the framework seems to hold, a new tension emerges — an enterprise agreement clause, a domestic violence order, a reference call, a Fair Work application.

Provocative, fast-paced and deliberately uncomfortable, this session explores the real operational fault lines in GBV Code implementation: when trauma-informed practice collides with procedural fairness, when disclosure doesn't mean consent to investigate, and when institutional silence may be as risky as speaking up.

No tidy resolutions. No easy answers. Just the questions the sector needs to be asking.

Panel includes:

• Diana Taylor, Director, Diana Taylor Legal Consulting
• Anthony Wood, Partner, HSF Kramer