From Cultural Awareness to Cultural Safety: Why Organisations Must Evolve

30 Sept

Where Cultural Awareness Training Began

Cultural awareness training emerged in Australia during the 1980s and 1990s as governments and organisations began responding to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage highlighted in landmark reports such as the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991). Early programs were designed to give non-Indigenous Australians a basic understanding of First Peoples’ history, culture, and the impacts of colonisation (Universities Australia, 2011).

Awareness training typically involved short workshops or lectures. The focus was on recognition: introducing staff to cultural protocols, language, and perspectives that had previously been ignored or excluded from mainstream education and workplaces.

Why Cultural Awareness Training Was Used

Organisations adopted awareness training for three main reasons:

Policy compliance: With the introduction of Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) in the early 2000s through Reconciliation Australia, awareness training became a visible way to demonstrate commitment (Reconciliation Australia, 2022).
Workplace inclusion: As more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people entered the workforce, employers sought to reduce cultural misunderstandings.
Community relations: Government agencies, health services, and schools wanted to improve engagement with Aboriginal communities by building staff knowledge of culture and history.

While well intentioned, these programs often remained superficial. They created awareness but rarely addressed systemic issues or organisational accountability.

The Shift to Cultural Safety

By the 2000s, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholars and leaders began advocating for a shift from awareness to cultural safety. The concept was first developed in Aotearoa New Zealand by Māori nurse Irihapeti Ramsden in the late 1980s and soon adopted into Australian health and education systems.

Cultural safety is defined not by the intentions of the service provider, but by the experience of the person receiving the service (Ramsden, 2002). In the Australian context, this means that an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person determines whether an environment feels culturally safe.

Key differences:

Cultural awareness focuses on knowledge.
Cultural competence focuses on skills.
Cultural safety focuses on systems and accountability.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW, 2023) notes that cultural safety is now a recognised determinant of health and wellbeing, influencing outcomes in healthcare, education, and employment.

Benefits of Cultural Safety

Empirical evidence shows that cultural safety is more effective than cultural awareness alone:

Health outcomes: A systematic review by the Lowitja Institute (2019) found that culturally safe healthcare improves trust, increases access to services, and leads to better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Workforce retention: Reconciliation NSW (2024) reported that more than 25 percent of First Peoples employees work in culturally unsafe environments. Embedding cultural safety reduces turnover and improves retention.
Organisational performance: Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends (2020) report linked belonging and psychological safety to higher innovation, engagement, and productivity. When cultural safety is embedded, all staff benefit.
Governance: The Productivity Commission (2020) identified that Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations with clear governance structures that include cultural safety are more resilient and effective.

Why Organisations Must Move Beyond Awareness

While cultural awareness training provided a starting point, it is no longer enough. Awareness without systemic change risks tokenism and fatigue. As the AIHW (2023) and Productivity Commission (2020) highlight, cultural safety requires measurable frameworks, accountability, and ongoing partnership with First Peoples.

Modern organisations are expected to:

Audit their systems for cultural safety.
Train leaders and managers in accountability and inclusive governance.
Establish long-term partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Measure cultural safety outcomes, not just training participation.

Conclusion

Cultural awareness training was an important first step in Australia’s reconciliation journey. It opened doors to understanding and began conversations that had been absent in workplaces. But today, the expectation is higher.

Cultural safety provides a practical, systemic approach that delivers measurable benefits in health, employment, governance, and organisational performance. For organisations seeking genuine reconciliation and stronger outcomes, moving from awareness into cultural safety is no longer optional, it is essential.

References

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). (2023). Indigenous Employment and Child Protection Data.
Deloitte. (2020). Global Human Capital Trends.
Lowitja Institute. (2019). Cultural Determinants of Health: Literature Review.
Productivity Commission. (2020). Indigenous Evaluation Strategy.
Ramsden, I. (2002). Cultural Safety and Nursing Education in Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu.
Reconciliation Australia. (2022). Reconciliation Action Plan Impact Report.
Reconciliation NSW. (2024). Cultural Safety in the Workplace Report.
Universities Australia. (2011). National Best Practice Framework for Indigenous Cultural Competency in Australian Universities.