Snapshot: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mechanisms for settling disputes
| In general, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture-based mechanisms for managing and settling disputes and wrongdoing are: |
| action-oriented and physical. Punishment and sanctions involve law-based and regulated restitution, revenge or injury. |
| socially based. Conflicts seep into wider social networks, people ‘in the wrong’ may be sent away by the group, or may initiate their own self-imposed absence from the group or community. |
| material and monetary. Restitution and compensation are valued, including the exchange of cash, food, services or commodity goods. |
| religious and spiritual. Individuals with legitimate authority and power act as enforcers of punishment, people may participate in cleansing rituals, or the wrongdoer may be excluded from valued religious ceremony and knowledge. |
| symbolic and performance-based. Ritualised peacemaking apologies and highly orchestrated reconciliation fights may be performed. |