Towards an alternative approach to policy design to empower Indigenous Australians in the upcoming green economy: a cross-cultural service design-thinking framework

The research in this thesis focused on 1) policy design in Indigenous Affairs and how best to enable Indigenous Australian policy recipients to design their own outcomes using a framework that places Indigenous values at its core; 2) how the emerging low-carbon (“green”) economy can generate meaningful (culturally fulfilling) employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians (renewable energy social enterprises) and how the above framework can help facilitate this from the ground up. It benefits society by enhancing Indigenous cultural health and wellbeing and economic independence and responds positively to the pressing climate crisis by providing Australian households with clean, renewable energy.