A culturally grounded framework for co-designing policy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Policy development in Australia has often overlooked Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems, leading to policies that fail to address their unique needs and aspirations. Modern initiatives, such as the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, mark a transformative shift toward integrating Indigenous voices and experiences into policymaking. The existing evidence underscores the importance of co-design in Indigenous policy, underpinned by shared power, strong leadership, and culturally grounded principles. The literature suggests that co-designing policy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can bridge the gap between Indigenous knowledge systems and policy development, fostering trust and creating meaningful, lasting change. We aim to develop a culturally grounded framework for co-designing policy with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by employing a framework synthesis approach and yarning methods. Our research question informs our purposive selection and appraisal of culturally relevant studies, data extraction, synthesis and interpretation to produce our framework. Humphrey et al.'s Aboriginal basket weaving framework underpins our framework synthesis method. Our proposed framework aims to amalgamate Indigenous perspectives into policy co-design, ensuring inclusive, effective and culturally informed policies. Our study contributes to the growing body of literature in co-design's public policy domain by introducing an Indigenised model for integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing into modern policy design practices to generate culturally responsive policy. Future framework iterations can inform practical resources to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and policymakers in meaningful policy co-design.