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1. Introduction
The health disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (hereafter Indigenous Australians) and non-Indigenous Australians has been widely discussed in the literature for decades [1,2,3]. There is a growing recognition of the multitude of factors that contribute to the poorer health status of Indigenous Australians, including differences in the social determinants of health, availability and accessibility of culturally appropriate health services, and other biomedical, behavioural, and environmental factors [4]. Barriers to the use of health services by Indigenous people include fear or lack of trust of mainstream health facilities and lack of understanding or respect shown by health care providers [5,6]. This has prompted advocacy for a greater Indigenous representation in the health workforce to improve the cultural security of care and potentially help non-Indigenous clinicians provide more culturally appropriate services [5,6,7,8].
Considerable research has shown that Indigenous people want support from Indigenous staff and clinicians as part of their health care [9,10,11]. Indigenous doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, and health workers (hereafter collectively referred to as Indigenous health professionals or the Indigenous health workforce) are cultural brokers that help Indigenous patients feel more comfortable and safe throughout the delivery of care; for this reason, having Indigenous health professionals helps minimise discharges against medical advice [9]. Indigenous health professionals have diverse roles in the provision of clinical services, health promotion, and leadership within their communities [12] and often encounter their patients or clients outside of their clinical settings. This means they are able to utilise both their health knowledge and their connections to that community to help those who need health care overcome cultural and communication barriers to accessing that care [13]. Indigenous health professionals can offer important inputs at different levels and sectors within the health care system, providing care, policy and stimulating others to engage in system reform for better care. This input is relevant across the health system, from tertiary hospitals, to rural hospitals, to primary health care settings. Indigenous health professionals may be particularly important in more remote settings given the higher proportion of Indigenous people there [14] and because language barriers, miscommunication and cultural dissonance are likely to be experienced more profoundly in populations with less familiarity with and trust in Western health care [11].
Indigenous Australians...