The National Agreement on Closing the Gap explicitly commits governments to establish formal partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and community controlled organisations, to ensure that decision-making is shared and that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are empowered to lead in solutions that affect their communities.

This paper finds that to date, governments are not yet implementing shared decision-making in a way that reflects true co-design. 

In 2025, Lowitja Institute undertook work, in partnership with Yardhura Walani, the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Research at the Australian National University, to develop a position paper aimed at sparking critical debate and discussion on the future of co-design practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A corresponding roundtable event was held, bringing together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics, experts, and practitioners of co-design.

This paper captures key findings and recommendations from this work, providing an update on consultations with key community members and stakeholders on the position paper Co-design versus faux-design of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy: a critical review, as well as additional case studies that illustrate key approaches to authentic co-design. It presents key calls to action for governments to ensure dramatic improvements in co-design practices, to further meet governments’ obligations under the priority reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.