The authors of this article argue that for system leaders and decision-makers, including clinicians and health care providers, to contribute to transforming government services, it is imperative that they know that the cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are about knowledge that has developed for well over 65,000 years.

In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s (hereafter respectfully referred to as Indigenous) health outcomes remain unjustifiably poor, with policymaking requiring urgent reframing.

The authors argue that policies produced and implemented by policymakers and health care providers are being dominated by Western European Australian biomedical knowledge systems. If Australia is to reform a health system that is failing to reduce health inequities and is not free of racism, the cultural determinants of health (CDoH), which are the knowledges and cultures held and owned by Indigenous peoples, must be front and centre to transforming government services.