Norwegian Restorative Lessons from Cardamom Town

I was recently gifted a lovely copy of When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town (1955) (orig. Norwegian Folk og røvere i Kardemomme by) written and illustrated by Thorbjørn Egner, which tells the crime spree in the peaceful town of Kardemomme (Cardamom Town).

Can mediation be used for everything?

An interesting question was raised today at a seminar ... can mediation be used for every type of dispute?
Much is available on-line about where it can be used. Between School Kids - yes; Between a convicted murder and the victims family - yes; mining company and indigenous people - yes; between 2 political parites - shoud happen more often; between two warring nations - yes; Mel Gibson and his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva - you bet!

So when is it just not possible to set up a mediation?

Face to Face - "justice for a new generation"- an Australian Restorative Film

Face to Face (2011)
The release of Micheal Rymer's low budget film of an adaptation of the acclaimed Australian play write  David Williamson - Face to Face could not have been better timed considering some of the recurring debate in Australia over overly simplistic "tough on crime" criminal sentencing sought by  shock-jocks and political factions.

Face to Face conducts an insightful study into human behaviour, how situations spiral out of control, the shifting nature of guilt, culpability and victimisation by integrating a solid script that draws together strong characters and clever flashbacks about workplace bullying, perceptions of criminal act, pack male behaviour, racism, worker exploitation, infidelity, class conflict and domestic violence.

In honour of the solid work you mob continue to do.

Having just returned 2010 National Mediation Conference in Adelaide with much to reflect upon ... I personally felt that there was small but positive recognition at a national level of the truly solid work that our mediators are doing on a daily basis.

Ponki Mediation training pays dividends

Yesterday, the Ponki (Tiwi) mediators who participated in the CJC/NAAJA mediation workshop in Nguiu on Bathurst Is last November (graduation picture below) completed their first (multi-sessional) Correctional Centre Mediation Conferencing Program (program) that involved an offender who has spent the last 19 years behind bars for killing his wife and the family of the deceased.