Aboriginal Dispute Resolution: A Step Towards Self-Determination and Community Autonomy

by Larissa Behrendt

Larissa Behrendt argues for radical change in the system of resolving land disputes involving Aboriginal Australians. Writing from an Aboriginal perspective, she focuses on the law's history as oppressor of the its role as the instrument by which Aboriginals were dispossessed of their land; by which their laws and culture were overridden; and by which they are still disproportionately imprisoned. She points out the entrenched barriers to Aboriginal acceptance that they will get justice from the court system. She is sceptical of modern alternative dispute resolution arbitration, mediation, etc as the answer; the power imbalance, central to the perception of injustice, remains fundamentally unaltered. Behrendt proposes radical change. Land disputes involving Aboriginals, whomever with, should be resolved by Elders on Aboriginal land using traditional Aboriginal methods. Giving worked examples of this system in operation, she demonstrates how the current power imbalance would be undermined. The result? By empowering the Aboriginal peoples, the basis for a genuine and lasting reconciliation is created.

115 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Larissa is the author of three novels: Home, which won the 2002 David Unaipon Award and the regional Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book; Legacy, which won the 2010 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing; and After Story. She has published numerous books on Indigenous legal issues; her most recent non-fiction book is Finding Eliza: Power and Colonial Storytelling. She was awarded the 2009 NAIDOC Person of the Year award and 2011 NSW Australian of the Year. Larissa wrote and directed the feature films, After the Apology and Innocence Betrayed and has written and produced several short films. In 2018 she won the Australian Directors’ Guild Award for Best Direction in a Documentary Feature and in 2020 the AACTA for Best Direction in Nonfiction Television. She is the host of Speaking Out on ABC radio and is Distinguished Professor at the Jumbunna Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.