Designing a Better Policy Framework
Department of Health and Aged Care
Strategic Insight And Foresight, Future Ways Of Working, Human Centred Digital Transformation, Better Government, Connected Health
Amid a backdrop of rapid scientific and technological advancements and a complex health landscape, the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoHAC) and Tobias reimagined departmental policy design and development through the Designing Better Policy initiative, creating an adaptive, data-driven, human-centred framework to meet evolving health sector needs at scale.
Design Strategy
Awarded in 2025
Policy Design
Awarded in 2025
Creating a repeatable, human-centred, evidence-based policy process that could be operationalised at scale
Government policy is shaped within complex, fragmented systems, tight timelines, and stakeholder scrutiny. Impediments to effective decision-making and innovation include inconsistent design and evaluation approaches across policy teams, resulting in fragmented insights and difficulties comparing options. Barriers to effective team and stakeholder collaboration hinder aligned and cohesive policy development. These factors contribute to low confidence and doubt in the accuracy, completeness, and relevance of data. The challenge: create a repeatable, human-centred, evidence-based policy process that could be operationalised at scale. Success required an approach acknowledging current practices, co-created practical solutions with policy teams, and demonstrated value in real-world settings.
Development of an evidence-based future state approach to policy making through visual artefacts, capability uplift, and a playbook and toolkit
The Designing Better Policy initiative co-designed a framework for delivering better digital health policy. Current state discovery identified 28 pain points and 34 opportunities for transformation. The team prototyped a future-state Policy Lifecycle Framework and created the Designing Better Policy Playbook, a digital and printable resource with custom tools, templates, and guides, validated through iterative testing on a live policy initiative. It delivered a Roadmap for Change for transitioning to an ambitious future state. Training Workshops complemented these efforts, embedding human-centred design and evaluative thinking capabilities. The playbook provides practical, data-driven, repeatable approaches for better, more responsive policy.
Setting a new benchmark for design-led transformation
The Better Policy Framework is a blueprint for embedding design at the heart of public policy. It demonstrates that design can drive measurable, strategic outcomes in complex government settings. By creating an adaptive toolkit for iterative evidence building and a systems-thinking approach, this strategy sets a new benchmark for design-led transformation and has the potential to inspire systemic change across the public sector. It ensures that valuable ideas are explored early, data is traceable, and solutions based on evidence are iterated and stage-gated to mitigate risks, ultimately enabling high-quality decision-making in digital health, which benefits the Australian public.
