An adviser with Papua New Guinea's law and justice division in Eastern Highlands province says traditional systems of mediation and compensation are being perverted for personal gain.
The comment was made in the context of a recent conference in the provincial capital Goroka on the rise in sorcery-related violence.
Much of the conference discussion emphasised the importance of mediation and communities coming up with their own solutions.
But Don Hurrell, a former Queensland police officer who is also a PNG citizen, says mediation is being used for the wrong reasons.
"Every single thing that happens here now is someone else's fault, so then it has to be mediated. So everything in the villages and in the town...you know mediation in its pure form in the districts and in the villages is fine. But it's become a money-making business."
A PNG justice adviser, Don Hurrell.
