Community control
Decisions about health on the homelands are made on the homelands, by a Board elected from and by our community, guided by our Elders.
What community control means
Urapuntja Health Service is an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation: our community runs it. In practice, that means:
- Our members are our community. The corporation's membership is drawn from the people of the Utopia homelands.
- Our Board is elected by community. Directors are community members chosen by community members. They answer to the members at every annual general meeting (AGM).
- Elders guide the way. Cultural authority sits with our Elders, whose guidance shapes how care is delivered, how staff work, and what the organisation takes on.
- The service answers to the people it serves. That has been true since 1979, when our community took control of its own health care.
Community control is also why we are more than a health service. Our community tells us what it needs, whether that's youth programs, farming, jobs or community business. For us, health has never stopped at the clinic door.
Our Board
Senior people from each of the homeland communities make up our Board of Directors. Their role is to make sure the organisation responds to the needs and hopes of the community.
The Board represents the clans and families of the homelands. Each community holds regular elections to choose its representatives for an Advisory Committee, and the Directors are elected from that group.
Accountability
As an Aboriginal corporation, we answer to our members. We are registered under the CATSI Act, the law for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations.
Every year we report to the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC), the government office that looks after these corporations.