Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
Reconciliation and Social Justice Library
· debate over, and selective experiments with, existing legal institutions in an attempt to achieve such goals as
* greater use of mediation, conciliation and informal settlement;
* reduction in cost and formality;
* more responsive decision-making in specialised contexts;
* better control of law and order problems, in the light of the defects of existing structures for social control;
* reduction in the number of Aborigines coming into contact with the criminal justice system;
* reduction in the number of Aborigines in Australian gaols; and
*
· suggestions (from Aborigines and others) that encouragement of local justice mechanisms is a key to the recognition of, or respect for, the local customary law and traditions of Aboriginal groups.
At the same time it is necessary to keep very clear what role the Commission can play in this area, in the light of constitutional and administrative constraints, and of its Terms of Reference. The constitutional limitations imposed by Chapter III of the Commonwealth Constitution, and the administrative problems of direct Commonwealth involvement in local justice mechanisms are not arguments against appropriate reforms. They are in the nature of external constraints on direct Commonwealth action and are referred to in more detail elsewhere. [77]