Customary law
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have complex codes of conduct to guide people's behaviour. Today, every Australian is answerable to Australia's laws. Traditional or customary law in no way substitutes for Australian law but it can coexist and guide a community on how to behave according to traditional beliefs and practices.
In the same way, Jewish people in Australia follow particular religious laws around diet, ceremony and behaviour while they also abide by our nation's laws.
In Indigenous communities, knowledge of these laws has been held predominantly by older men. Codes of conduct cover behaviour around:
- leadership and etiquette
- property
- laws around special events like marriage, coming of age and death, and
- sacred knowledge.
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