ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the major themes of this book in relation to Indigenous health policy. It considers the Commonwealth government framework and administrative mechanisms that shape Indigenous health policy. The chapter explores the nature of health and its relation to freedom in a case study about the relations of art to health care in the Western Desert. Making policy creates major changes to the conditions within which people live their lives. Policy is often formed initially around analysis that imagines a static structure with a mechanistic focus in its implementation. The various ideas of health discussed throughout this book are essentially part of a European discursive tradition that dominates thinking about health policy in Australia. The inherent earth-caring philosophy of indigenous peoples is often challenged by governments, policy-makers and people who consider themselves to be members of mainstream society. Policy-makers routinely interpret data in a way that supports the kind of population health thinking they are used to.
