ABORIGINAL describes that which is of the people - the Aborigines.

Two Latin words make the word Aborigine. Ab meaning 'from' and origo meaning 'origin', the first existence, the beginning.

And so we are the people of this land who have been here from the beginning, the original people, the beginning people, the people of the land Australia.

COMMUNITY describes the group of people, the society of people.

The word comes from the Latin word communis, a word of two parts - com meaning 'together' and munis meaning 'ready to be of service'. This expresses the concept or philosophy of a people ready to be of service together, the common good, a society of people with common rights and privileges.

INITIATIVE means serving to initiate or to begin, and comes from the Latin verb ineo, initum - 'to go into', and in this context, the term initiative conveys the meanings: the first active procedure or step in any enterprise; the power of taking the lead or of originating.

INVOLVEMENT is the act of 'involving'. which again comes from two Latin words. In meaning 'into', and volvo which means 'to roll'. 'to wrap up', 'to envelop in folds'. The concept expressed here is to become part of the community, as a natural consequence.

PARTICIPATION is the state of 'participating' or'sharing in common with others'. Again from two Latin words, pars meaning 'a part'. and capio meaning 'to take'. Here the concept is to have a share in common with others.

CONTROL indicates 'a restraining power or influence'. The word comes from the French word controle meaning 'against a roll' or 'against a list'. The concept or thinking is to provide or assert balance against forces forces working to put off balance. In other words, control is to regulate or to govern.

When we examine all of the above, we have a composite picture of traditional Aboriginal values, and we are seeking to apply these to our ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS. Affairs comes from two French words, a meaning fto', and faire meaning 'to do'. And so we mean that which is done, or that which is to be done. In other words, our business - Aboriginal business.

COMMUNITY CONTROL is basic to the philosophy of Aboriginal health care delivery as exemplified by Aboriginal community initiated, community based health services throughout Australia. This philosophy of Community Control of necessity is reflected in the structure and the workings of the national support organisation of Aboriginal Health Services, which is known as the National Aboriginal and Islander Health Organisation.

Community Control means that each independent and autonomous health service is controlled by the community it serves, in order to provide that community with health care delivery to meet its health needs, as defined by that community. The solution to each community's health needs is in the hands of that community.

To ensure the highest level of community control, there must be participation by the community as a whole in the decision-making process. This process, for practical reasons, varies from urban to rural to traditional communities, but participation remains a key element. Membership of the Service should be open to all Aboriginal people in the community, so that they may contribute to the selection/election of the office bearers of a Board/Committee/Council of the health Service. The selection/election process should take place at regular intervals as established by the community.

To guarantee ongoing community control, this selected/elected group of people must be accessible and open to community opinion, and should ensure that Health Service staff respond to community health needs, and that the administrative staff in particular convey to the office bearers their assessment of the evolving health needs of the community.

Community Control means the Community's Control of the health care delivery Service, NOT control of the community by the service or its office bearers.

These principles must be reflected in the national organisation.

Therefore, there must be the broadest participation possible in the policy development and decision making at all levels, local, regional, and national. The Secretariat of NAIHO operates at the direction of the Executive, in a similar fashion to the Administration of a community-controlled health service. The Secretariat is responsible for the daily running of the organisation, in accord with the principles and policies established by the Congress of NAIHO. New initiatives under these principles are checked and monitored by the Executive at various levels. A national initiative would be checked by the full executive, a specific health initiative by that specific health area coordinator and appropriate executive members, and a regional initiative by the regional coordinator concerned and the appropriate executive.

In order to ensure that a national organisation, such as NAIHO reflects community control of Aboriginal Health Affairs across Australia, PARTICIPATION must be maximum, the Community checks and balances must be in place at all times. This demands that the National Organisation not interfere in the decisions of communities but rather is ready to respond to community requests for support and development. That is COMMUNITY CONTROL. This means that there must be a constant free flow of information to and from all levels.

This builds trust, builds community, and will ensure protection against those forces in Australia, which are opposed to Aboriginal community development, and Aboriginal community determination.

The talents and abilities of each individual in a community must be encouraged, so that every individual can develop their full potential. With community support, this is possible - and in turn, those talents and abilities can be applied to help the community develop and to meet its needs. Individual decision-making breaks down community, and so breaks down the support system for individual development. an individual in isolation can not understand the total needs of his/her community, and therefore both the desire and the ability to meet those needs are lacking. This does not mean that the talents of each individual are not valued, but rather that they are valued as part of the sum total of talents within the community. They are of most value to each person, when they are devoted to the development of community initiatives, in co-operation and consensus within the total community.

The essence or essential element of community control, that which distinguishes the process of community control from all other methods of control, rule or government is the coming together of the minds of the community - the use of all the talents within the community to come to consensus - consensus meaning agreement, concord reached after feeling together, perceiving together, and thinking together. The sum of the pooling together of the individual talents.

Community Control is like a living, developing, evolving tree, which is the sum total of the individual elements of the seed, the soil, the sun, and the rain.

COMMUNITY CONTROL means that we have control against Governments and Institutions, which continue to seek to oppress us, to make us dependants, to satisfy us with 'hand-outs', to perpetuate a welfare mentality - a mentality, which is a total contradiction of: