This assessment asks you to examine your own cultural, personal, and professional positioning in the context of cross-cultural public health practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The focus is on relational ethics, understanding how your background, values, assumptions, and professional responsibilities shape the way you engage with communities. You will respond to a series of structured prompts (provided in the Assessment Instructions) to demonstrate your ability to reflect critically, analyse ethical positioning, and connect your reflections to key concepts introduced in Weeks 1–3.

You are required to write a 1000 word structured reflective analysis of your cultural and professional positioning in cross-cultural public health practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Your task is to respond to the three structured prompts below, integrating at least two required readings or Indigenous scholarly sources from the first three weeks of the course. Please write in first person but maintain an academic reflective tone.

Structured Prompts (You Must Respond to All Three)

Prompt 1 — My Cultural and Professional Positioning

Reflect on your own cultural background, personal identity, lived experiences, and professional role.

Consider:

• What aspects of your identity shape how you see health, wellbeing, and community?
• How might your cultural worldview influence the way you engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?
• What strengths and limitations come from your positioning?

Link your reflection to key concepts such as culture, worldview, positionality, power, identity, and relationality.

Prompt 2 — Relational Ethics, Accountability and Power

Reflect on how relational ethics guide your responsibilities in public health practice.

Consider:

• What ethical responsibilities do you hold when working cross-culturally?
• Where might your assumptions or biases arise, and how could they impact trust, safety, or equity?
• How do principles such as relational accountability, humility, reciprocity, and respect apply to your practice?

 Use at least one reading from Weeks 1–3 to deepen your analysis.

Prompt 3 — Implications for My Future Public Health Practice

Reflect on how your positioning will shape your future work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Consider:

• What will you need to unlearn, strengthen, or develop to practice ethically?
• How will you ensure culturally safe, community-led engagement?
• How does your positioning inform your approach to collaboration, governance, and shared decision-making?
   

Use evidence to support your conclusions.

To successfully complete this task, you must:

• Address all three structured prompts
• Write 1000 words (±10%)
• Reference at least two readings or Indigenous scholarly sources from Weeks 1–3
• Use APA 7th ed. referencing for in-text citations and reference list
• Submit as a Word document 
   

Writing Expectations - Your reflection should be:

Critical – go beyond description; analyse why and how your positioning matters
Honest and self-aware – acknowledge assumptions, blind spots, and areas of growth
Conceptually grounded – connect your reflection to key theories, readings, and concepts
Structured – use headings for the three prompts
Professional – first person is encouraged but must remain scholarly.

Level of GenAI use allowed on Assessments 1: Level 1 NO AI. You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

This Positioning and Relational Ethics Reflection assessment will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Depth of Critical Self-Reflection and Positionality Analysis

2. Application of Relational Ethics, Accountability and Power

3. Substantiating Evidence Through Literature

4. Structure, Coherence and Quality of Writing

5. Referencing and Formatting (APA 7 ed.)

In this assessment, you will work in groups of 3-4 students to design a governance-informed, culturally responsive public health strategy addressing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health issue. Importantly, this task does not involve community co-design. Instead, it focuses on your ability to design ethically and accountably in the absence of community authority, while demonstrating a clear understanding of Indigenous governance, relational ethics, and the limits of your role as emerging public health practitioners.

You will design a hypothetical strategy and explicitly identify:

• what can be responsibly proposed at this stage, and
• what must be deferred to Indigenous community governance, leadership, and decision-making.
   

This mirrors real-world practice, where public health professionals must often prepare proposals without over-claiming authority, and with clear pathways for future community-led processes.

In groups of 3–4, you will design a governance-informed public health strategy addressing a selected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health issue.

This assessment does not simulate co-design.

You are not being asked to speak for communities or claim community priorities.

Instead, you are required to:

·       Design responsibly in the absence of community authority

·       Demonstrate governance literacy

·       Show ethical reflexivity and restraint

·       Identify what must remain under Indigenous community control

Part A — Group Presentation (10 minutes)

Your presentation must include:

The public health issue

Description and significance

Cultural, historical, and systemic context

Indigenous governance frameworks

Which frameworks would guide decision-making

Why governance matters in this context

Proposed hypothetical strategy

What is being proposed

Why it is culturally responsive

What assumptions have been avoided

Ethical limits and accountability (REQUIRED)

What students cannot ethically decide

Where authority must sit with community governance

Risks of over-claiming or simulated co-design

Pathway to genuine co-design

What would be required for real community-led processes

How governance would guide next steps

All group members must present. The presentation can be done using PowerPoint or another appropriate software to support your presentation.  

Part B — Written Group Rationale (2000 words)

Your written rationale must include the following sections:

1. Introduction

Issue overview and purpose of the strategy

2. Public Health Issue and Context

Cultural, relational, historical, and structural determinants

3. Indigenous Governance Frameworks

How governance would shape decision-making and authority

4. Hypothetical Strategy Design

What is proposed and why — without claiming community endorsement

5. Ethical Boundaries, Governance and Accountability (MANDATORY)

You must explicitly address:

·       Why this strategy is not co-designed

·       Limits of student authority

·       Risks of appropriation or assumption

·       What must be decided by Indigenous governance

·       How accountability would be maintained

6. Pathway to Genuine Co-Design

What ethical, relational, and governance conditions would be required

7. Conclusion

8. Group Contribution Declaration

Minimum 8 scholarly sources, including Indigenous authors.

You must not:

·       Claim community endorsement

·       Simulate co-design

·       Use AI to generate strategies or writing

·       Outsource or paraphrase content

·       Collaborate outside your group

Your assessment must demonstrate ethical restraint as a strength, not a limitation.

Presentation: Level of GenAI use allowed on Assessments 2: Level 1 NO AI. You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

Written Rationale: Level of GenAI use allowed on Assessments 2: Level 2 AI Planning. You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.

This Group Project - Presentation and Written Rationale assessment will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Strategy Design and Innovation

2. Ethical Reflexivity, Governance Awareness and Accountability

3. Substantiating Evidence Through Literature

4. Presentation Quality

5. Written Rationale Quality

6. Referencing and Formatting 

In this assessment, you will write a 2000-word policy or strategy brief that analyses a current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander public health issue and proposes culturally safe, community-led approaches to improving outcomes. This brief should reflect the writing conventions of professional policy communication: concise, persuasive, evidence-based, and grounded in Indigenous governance and community priorities. You will translate what you have learned in this unit into practical, actionable recommendations that could be used by policymakers, health leaders, or community-controlled organisations.

You will choose one contemporary health issue (from a provided list or approved alternative) and produce a brief that demonstrates understanding of relational ethics, community engagement, governance frameworks, and culturally informed public health strategies.

Your brief must use the conventions of professional policy writing:

• Clear structure
• Targeted and persuasive communication
• Evidence-informed recommendations
• Indigenous governance and community priorities at the centre
• Practical and actionable proposals

This assessment builds on the relational ethics and positionality work you undertook in Assessment 1, and the governance principles applied in Assessment 2.

Step 1 — Select a Public Health Issue

Choose one public health issue affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from this list:

• Social and emotional wellbeing
• Health impacts of climate change
• Youth suicide and self-harm prevention
• Cultural determinants of health and cultural revitalisation
• Food security and nutrition
• Housing, overcrowding, or environmental health
• Chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, cardiovascular disease)
• Maternal and infant health
• Alcohol and other drug (AOD) harms
• Another issue (must be tutor-approved)

Step 2 — Analyse the Issue

Your brief must include:

• A concise description of the issue and who it affects
• Key cultural, historical, relational, and structural determinants
• Why this issue matters from a community perspective
• Strengths that exist within communities
• Gaps or limitations in current policy or service responses
• Evidence from Indigenous-led sources and peer-reviewed literature
   

Step 3 — Apply Indigenous Governance and Ethical Frameworks

Your analysis must show how Indigenous governance principles shape:

• Understanding of the issue
• Assessment of current policy responses
• Foundations of your proposed solutions

Examples of frameworks you may draw upon include:

• Community control
• Indigenous data sovereignty
• Relational accountability
• Cultural determinants of health
• Indigenous evaluation frameworks
• Strengths-based practice
• Caring for Country frameworks
   

Step 4 — Develop Culturally Safe, Community-Led Recommendations

Your brief must contain:

• 3–5 actionable recommendations
• Strategies that prioritise community leadership, relational ethics, and self-determination
• Solutions grounded in strengths and Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing
• Feasible, realistic, and impactful actions
• Consideration of implementation challenges.
   

Examples include:

New programs, policies, or community-led initiatives
Improvements to existing systems
Governance or structural reforms
Capacity-building strategies
Partnerships or new ways of working
 

Step 5 — Write the Policy or Strategy Brief (2000 words)

Your brief must include the following sections:

1. Executive Summary (150 words)

A concise overview of the issue and key recommendations.
 

2. Background / Issue Description (450 words)

Clear analysis of who is affected, why it matters, and what evidence shows.
 

3. Current Policy Response (350 words)

Brief overview of policies, programs, or systems in place, including their strengths and limitations.
 

4. Indigenous Governance and Frameworks (350 words)

Application of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, doing, and governing to the issue.
 

5. Recommendations (550 words)

Three to five community-led, strengths-based, culturally grounded recommendations.
 

6. Conclusion (150 words)

Short summary highlighting the importance of culturally informed public health approaches.
 

7. Reference List (APA 7)

Minimum 10 scholarly sources, including:

Indigenous authors/scholars
Indigenous-led organisations
Peer-reviewed journals
Policy and government documents
 

Presentation and Formatting requirements:

2,000 words (+/− 10%)
Professional policy format
Use headings and subheadings
Clear, persuasive, concise writing
APA 7 in-text citations and reference list
Submit as a Word document 

Level of GenAI use allowed on Assessments 3: Level 2 AI Planning. You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.

1. Analysis of Public Health Issue

2. Application of Indigenous Governance and Ethical Frameworks

3. Quality of Recommendations (Culturally Safe, Actionable, Community-Led)

4. Substantiating Evidence Through Literature

5. Structure, Coherence and Quality of Policy Writing

6. Referencing and Formatting