The guidance provides practical tools to support government bodies and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to embed shared decision-making principles into practice. Drawing on real-world case studies and examples of effective shared decision-making, the resource helps both governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations learn from and scale proven approaches to shared decision-making.

The guidance responds to commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. In particular, it addresses Priority Reform One: Building formal partnerships and shared decision-making, which commits all Australian governments to partner with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in designing and delivering policies, programs and services.

It helps build sustainable, effective and equitable partnerships through readiness assessments, templates and step-by-step tools that guide both parties to work together in genuine, culturally safe and accountable ways.

The guidance helps to:

• build a shared understanding of genuine shared decision-making in practice
• learn from real case studies and proven approaches
• assess readiness, address barriers and strengthen capability
• develop transparent, community-grounded agreements.