Examining the gap between aged care policy and lived experience

Dolly Nye had never studied at university when she enrolled in her first subject in 2023. That same year, she was grieving the loss of her mother.

Caring for her mother had meant navigating an aged care system that didn’t always make space for Indigenous families or the communities around them. It left Dolly, a Walbunja/Yuin woman, with questions she couldn’t shake. 

Study gave her somewhere to take them.

“I found that I genuinely loved learning and wanted to continue developing both personally and professionally,” she says.

She has since completed a Graduate Certificate, begun a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation on a Pat Turner Scholarship, and secured a second scholarship to undertake a Master of Philosophy.

Finding a pathway into study

Dolly came to The Australian National University (ANU) with years of experience working across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy, program design, stakeholder engagement, and diversity and inclusion in both the public and private sectors.

The APS First Nations Graduate Certificate of Management, offered through the ANU College of Business and Economics, was her entry point.

“The program built my confidence as a learner and introduced me to critical thinking, leadership, and the relationship between policy, organisations, and systems,” she says.

She graduated with her cohort in 2024 and commenced a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation on a Pat Turner Scholarship.

The gap between policy and people

Dolly spent years engaging with communities, aged care providers and organisations across Australia. As the Assistant Director of the Office of the Interim First Nations Aged Care Commissioner at the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, she’s spoken with Elders, families and carers about what care felt like.

“Being a former carer, I also experienced firsthand the challenges Aboriginal families can face when navigating aged care systems,” she says. 

Cultural safety is not simply about policy intent or training, but about how care is experienced relationally and structurally within communities.

Those experiences helped shape the questions she now explores through her research. 

Through the Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Dolly has been researching how Indigenous Elders in the Eurobodalla region of NSW – her home region – access and navigate aged care, and what culturally safe care looks like in practice.

“I have the ability to draw upon my lived experience as a carer, my professional experience in First Nations aged care policy, and my academic studies to better understand how public policy is experienced in practice by communities.”

What research can do

From July 2026, Dolly will build on her current research into culturally safe aged care through a Master of Philosophy at the ANU College of Science and Medicine.

“The Master of Philosophy will provide an opportunity to further develop this work by exploring not only what culturally safe care looks like, but how it can be understood and implemented in practice within regional contexts,” she says.

“This milestone represents not only a continuation of my academic journey, but also a deepening of my commitment to improving cultural safety in aged care systems, and the role public policy has in shaping those outcomes.”

Dolly is clear about what she wants the research to achieve — something more grounded than a framework or a checklist.

“Cultural safety must be lived and local. It must be shaped by relationships, trust, community, and local context,” she says.

She also hopes it makes the case for a different kind of care — one built on relationship rather than compliance.

“I hope the research supports ongoing discussions about how systems, services, and policy approaches can better reflect the realities, strengths, and priorities of Aboriginal communities,” she says.

Her advice to other Indigenous professionals considering further study is straightforward.

“I would encourage any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person considering tertiary study to believe that it is possible,” she says.

“The opportunity to undertake further study through ANU and the Pat Turner Scholarship has been life changing in the most positive way. I am incredibly grateful for the experiences and opportunities it has provided, and I would strongly encourage anyone considering the program to apply.”

The College is always keen to explore research collaborations with the public and private sector and to reconnect with alumni. Please get in touch if you would like to know more about partnering with us.

Image credit: Tim Rendall/CBE