Abstract
THIS CHAPTER'S CENTRAL focus is to demonstrate how Aboriginal constructs, such as the Coffin Cultural Security (CCS) Model and the Cultural Security Continuum (Coffin 2007), offer culturally secure ways forward for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people engaged in and affected by community development processes. We do this by focusing on two community development projects undertaken in the health and local government sectors in rural and regional Western Australia. The motivation for community development practitioners to utilise tools such as the CCS Model and the Cultural Security Continuum is connected to the influence of colonial history and recognition of Aboriginal knowledge. In relation to colonial history, Australian community development processes are deeply entrenched within privileged Western paradigms that do not allow for processes to be developed and implemented from an Aboriginal perspective (Ife 2003). With regard to the relationship between Aboriginal knowledge and community development processes, views and experiences of Aboriginal communities have been historically excluded or not wholly embraced (Ife 2003; Sherwood 1999).