Why so many are asking for help (and where to begin)
Across health, housing, education and government workplaces, teams are under pressure to turn good intent into day-to-day practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners, clients and staff. Many are looking for simple, credible starting points that translate “do better” into concrete action. A strong place to begin is Victoria’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety framework, developed for the health, human and community services sector and released in two parts: a principles-and-domains overview (Part 1) and a hands-on cultural safety continuum reflective tool (Part 2). Together, these documents ground cultural safety in rights, self-determination and continuous improvement, and give individuals and organisations a way to reflect, act and evidence growth over time.
Australia’s frameworks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety are robust, multi-sectoral and evolving rapidly through 2025, building on decades of community, clinical and policy leadership. The core aims, culturally safe, responsive and rights-based services, remain, but there is increasing specificity and accountability across health, aged care, housing and government workplaces. That national trend is clear in Victoria’s design logic and tools: cultural safety is everyone’s business, it must be measurable, and it improves only when leaders, staff, and systems change together.
What cultural safety is, and who defines it
At its simplest, cultural safety means creating environments where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people feel safe: their identity is not challenged, their experience is not denied, and their needs can be met. Part 1 sets this out explicitly and links it to human rights, self-determination and the practical removal of barriers that still exist because of colonisation and systemic racism. Crucially, cultural safety is not defined by providers; safety is determined by the people and communities receiving the service. That stance shapes everything else: if the users do not experience your service as safe, it is not culturally safe, full stop.
A framework built for improvement, not slogans
Part 1 organises action around a clear vision, a set of principles, and three domains: creating a culturally safe workplace and organisation, Aboriginal self-determination, and leadership and accountability. It embeds a competence continuum, from “unaware” to “proficient”, and pairs it with a continuous learning journey (“unlearn → learn → apply → reflect → embed”). This is not a one-off workshop model; it is a systematic lift in capability and behaviour across people, policies and systems.
Part 2 turns that philosophy into practice. The cultural safety continuum reflective tool gives parallel sets of reflection questions and actions for both individuals and organisations. It treats cultural safety as a continuous quality improvement (CQI) cycle, asking staff to examine their assumptions, build relationships with local Aboriginal communities, and document specific actions, while asking organisations to reform leadership accountabilities, systems and procedures, resource staff development, and partner with Aboriginal communities to set values and outcomes.
The 2025 uplift: what’s new in emphasis and accountability
Across Australian frameworks in 2025, three shifts are pronounced and align with Victoria’s approach. First, community determination has moved from rhetoric to compliance reality. Cultural safety is granted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; services are expected to demonstrate how community voice shapes decisions, evaluations and change. Second, CQI is non-negotiable. Action plans, feedback loops and outcome tracking are now standard; “policy on a page” without practice is not enough. Third, systemic racism is front and centre. Organisations are expected to educate staff on colonisation’s impacts, recognise intergenerational trauma, and identify where their own policies or behaviours entrench inequity, and then fix them. These are not add-ons; they are core to safe service.
How to use the Victorian framework and reflective tool
Start by situating yourself on the continuum. The reflective tool asks individuals: Are you aware of your unconscious biases? Do you know the local Aboriginal communities that access your service? Are you building mentoring relationships that include Aboriginal perspectives? Honest answers reveal starting points and gaps. Then translate reflection into action. Early moves might include committing to self-reflection, seeking direct feedback, and identifying learning that challenges your assumptions. As capability grows, actions shift toward allyship, sharing knowledge and embedding cultural safety in daily work and performance plans.
Run the same cycle at the organisational level. Leadership teams should use the tool to test whether cultural safety is negotiated with local Aboriginal communities, whether there is zero tolerance for racism, how learning and development is resourced at different proficiency levels, and how accountability shows up in KPIs and reporting. The framework is explicit: genuine progress requires reforming leadership accountabilities, strategies, policies, processes and procedures, not just adding training.
From principle to practice: applying the framework in different settings
Health services can treat the framework as both a compass and an audit trail. Use it to align induction, supervision, complaints handling and clinical governance to the CQI cycle, and to demonstrate improvements in access, trust and satisfaction through community feedback as well as service data. In Victoria’s design, outcomes are tied to culture and community, not just clinical metrics; services move toward safety by investing in staff proficiency and partnering with Aboriginal communities to shape values, governance and operations.
Housing providers can adapt the same domains to design respectful engagement, tenancy support and repairs processes that are trauma-aware, place-based and co-designed. The reflective tool’s prompts on relationships, biases, and mutually agreed “ways of working” map readily to tenancy advisory groups, culturally safe complaint pathways, and procurement that values Aboriginal businesses and practices of repair and reuse.
Workplaces and government departments can use the framework to re-engineer recruitment, retention and progression for Aboriginal staff; to embed cultural leave and the role of Elders or cultural safety officers; and to require anti-racism capability for all leaders. Because cultural safety is “everyone’s business”, boards and executives must own the measures: who is represented, who is heard in decisions, and what changes when staff or community say the service is not safe.
What “good” looks like in 2025 (and how to show it)
The framework is unusually clear about success. You should be able to demonstrate that Aboriginal voice is central to decisions that affect individuals, families and communities; that cultural safety is negotiated with local communities and shows up as an organisation-wide value; that staff have tailored learning plans tied to the continuum; and that funding and accountability are linked to cultural safety targets. None of these are abstract ideals; they are observable conditions and auditable artefacts.
Equally, the evidence path matters. The Part 2 tool encourages teams to document reflections, actions and outcomes at each stage. Over time, this creates a visible trail,from “unaware” through “emerging” and “capable” to “proficient”, that supports internal learning and external assurance. The aim is not to “assess” individuals in a punitive sense; it is to make growth possible and traceable so that cultural safety strengthens as people and systems change.
Practical first steps for organisations that don’t know where to start
Begin by naming cultural safety as a core value and publishing an organisational statement that commits to zero tolerance for racism and to partnership with local Aboriginal communities. Back that up by allocating protected time for staff to complete the reflective tool, discuss findings in teams, and write personal and unit-level action plans aligned to the continuum. Resource learning properly, not just one induction, but sequenced development that combines theory and practice at different proficiency levels. Invite the community into governance by establishing an advisory group of local Aboriginal representatives who negotiate values, priorities and “ways of working” with you. Above all, treat this as a CQI cycle and report publicly on progress.
Why this matters: rights, relationships and results
The Victorian framework ties cultural safety to a rights-based approach and to the lived experience of Aboriginal people. It recognises that identity, language, spirituality and connection to country, family and community positively shape wellbeing; that colonisation and discriminatory policies caused harm that persists; and that only deliberate system reform, guided by Aboriginal voices, will close gaps in access, experience and outcomes. When services adopt the framework’s learning journey and domains, they move beyond cultural awareness toward the practical redesign of organisations and systems that reduce racism and improve health, housing and workplace outcomes.
The bottom line for 2025
Cultural safety cannot be a static checkbox. It is an ongoing, measurable and community-led commitment now supported by frameworks with specific targets, accountability lines and explicit user-defined criteria for success. Use the Victorian framework’s Part 1 to anchor your principles and domains, and the Part 2 reflective tool to drive reflective practice and evidence progress. If you are looking for where to start, start here, then stay with it: unlearn, learn, apply, reflect and embed. That is how services become truly safe, responsive and just.
Resources referenced in this article:
Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety framework (Part 1) and Cultural safety continuum reflective tool (Part 2).
