Appropriate justice
Monday, May 12th, 200812/5/08
It’s appalling that both Peter Faris (”Kooris’ court a waste of money”, Legal Affairs, 9/5) and Chris Merritt (”Koori codswallop”, Legal Affairs, 9/5) can write in terms which so disparage the real needs of indigenous Australians. The Victorian Koori Court, like the Nunga Court in South Australia and the Murri Court in Queensland, will include other parties in sentencing processes, and do use language which is less formal. But how are these things negative? The innovation of these courts represent turning points in the ability of the legal system to listen properly to people of indigenous background, initiated by women and men who had long years of personal experience seeing the injustice which occurred when the law was applied to black people as if they were white.
