Rethinking cultural safety in aged care

From extra help at home, through to residential home care, more than one million Australians access aged care services each year.

Pat Turner scholar Dolly Nye is exploring ways to improve cultural safety in aged care for Aboriginal Australians.

Dolly is a Walbunja/Yuin woman from the south coast of New South Wales. She is studying a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at The Australian National University (ANU) College of Business and Economics.

Dolly says her studies have given her the language to describe things she was already seeing through her work at the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing – and through her experience caring for her elderly mother.

“Studying innovation in my degree has helped me to understand problems differently. Studying entrepreneurship has helped me to find new solutions,” Dolly says.

As part of her studies, Dolly is undertaking a research project to investigate cultural safety in aged care. Her research is informed by Indigenous research methodologies including yarning, relational engagement and participatory approaches.

“The problems in aged care require research that is grounded and relational – you need to build trust with the people you are engaging with and that often happens outside the formal research proceedings.

“In aged care, I have seen cultural safety failures treated as inevitable outcomes of the system – rather than as lived consequences shaped by policy, power, and organisational design.

“Cultural safety in aged care requires ongoing critical self-reflection by providers and systems. Safety needs to be defined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders themselves.

Through her research, Dolly has found Indigenous people are generally willing to engage with the aged care system but are accessing aged care at lower rates than non-Indigenous people.

“Across this research, what is emerging clearly is that access is not the barrier for our Elders – trust is. And trust cannot exist where cultural safety is absent.

“Every community and individual has had different lived experiences with aged care and government services. Localised cultural safety will help improve outcomes for many.”

Reflecting on her scholarship, Dolly says it has given her the space to integrate innovation and culture with Australian Public Service (APS) practice.

“When I return to regular service in the APS, I will bring back new ways of thinking – not just new knowledge. I hope to strengthen the way the public service listens, learns and adapts.”

Dolly has been awarded a second Pat Turner scholarship to commence a Master of Philosophy at ANU in Semester 2, 2026. Through this degree, Dolly will continue her research to develop a cultural safety framework for Aboriginal Elders in aged care.

The Pat Turner Scholarship is a one-to-three year, full-pay scholarship for any level of postgraduate study at ANU or Charles Darwin University for high performing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS 4 to SES Band 1 APS or eligible PGPA entity employees.

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Image: ANU College of Business and Economics