In an announcement on 15 October 2000 concerning the ‘Peak forum to support Indigenous families and communities’, the then Minister, John Herron, stated that: ‘Indigenous people know what their problems are and have good ideas on how to address them. Governments need to recognise this and support [I]ndigenous communities to work together to tackle their own issues’ (Herron & Newman 2000). ATSIC supports this statement but stresses that it needs to translate into genuine engagement with our people at the community level, not merely through the conduct of national forums but in ensuring that measures taken on the ground are developed in collaboration with local communities.

Once we begin moving control of programs and policy to the community level to control links between programs, we also begin moving away from the model that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are simply ‘recipients’ of services. Communities can then use different programs for common purposes supporting overall community development.