Why are there no adult community courts operating in the Northern Territory of Australia?

Abstract

Magistrates in the Northern Territory of Australia (‘NT’) have a long history of attempting to involve community members in justice processes, particularly in ‘bush courts’, that apparently predates such efforts of other Australian jurisdictions. Since 2007, both wholly local initiatives, such as law and justice committees or court initiated intercultural engagements with mainstream justice processes such as Community Courts, have struggled to gain momentum and have now completely desisted. Given the historical interest and repeated engagements by NT magistrates—and at a time when interest in community participation in summary justice processes in other Australian jurisdictions are enthusiastically pursued—why is it that now adult Community Courts in the NT have stalled?