At a meeting in December 1987, State and Territory Ministers for Aboriginal Affairs and Health agreed to the establishment of the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party. The working party was asked to identify and report on current commonwealth/state funding arrangements, develop strategies to achieve improvements in the short and long term, develop strategies to maximise the involvement of Aboriginal people in their own health care, consider intersectional co-ordination including commonwealth, state, local and health service agency responsibilities and develop a mechanism to monitor progress towards achieving targets. 

The report summarises the work completed and includes summaries, written submissions and extracts from the extensive consultation process undertaken with Aboriginal communities and groups throughout Australia.