ORCID Profile
0000-0001-5708-8654
Current Organisations
University of New South Wales - ADFA Campus
,
University of Tasmania
,
La Trobe University
,
University of New South Wales
,
ANU College
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Publications
On Facilitating Regional Integration and Economic Development with Collaborative Technologies in the South Pacific
Publisher: Association for Information Systems
Date: 2013
DOI: 10.17705/1PAIS.05202
Accounting for Indigenous cultural connections to land: insights from two Indigenous groups of Australia
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 28-08-2023
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-08-2022-5971
Abstract: This paper aims to present the findings of a government-initiated project that sought to explore the possibility of incorporating cultural connections to land within the federal national accounting system using the United Nations Systems of Environmental-Economic Accounting (UN-SEEA) framework as a basis. Adopting a critical dialogic approach and responding to the calls for critical accountants to engage with stakeholders, the authors worked with two Indigenous groups of Australia to develop a system of accounts that incorporates their cultural connections to “Country”. The two groups were clans from the Mungguy Country in the Kakadu region of Northern Territory and the Ewamian Aboriginal Corporation of Northern Queensland. Conducting two-day workshops on separate occasions with both groups, the authors attempted to meld the Indigenous worldviews with the worldviews embodied within national accounting systems and the UN-SEEA framework. The models developed highlight significant differences between the ontological foundations of Indigenous and Western-worldviews and the authors reflect on the tensions created between these competing worldviews. The authors also offer pragmatic solutions that could be implemented by the Indigenous Traditional Owners and the government in terms of developing such an accounting system that incorporates connections to Country. The paper contributes to providing a contemporary case study of engagement with Indigenous peoples in the co-development of a system of accounting for and by Indigenous peoples it also contributes to the ongoing debate on bridging the ide between critique and praxis and finally, the paper delves into an area that is largely unexplored within accounting research which is national accounting.
Compassion and Virtue: Social media-enabled bartering in Fiji during COVID-19
Publisher: Western Sydney University
Date: 22-06-2021
DOI: 10.51142/ISSUES-JOURNAL-4-1-3
Abstract: This essay explores the emergence of the BFBF and how this online group made ‘bartering’ and other practices of exchange central to surviving Covid-19. We analyse the posts and discussions of BFBF participants in 2020. We are interested in the way moderators and participants position this contemporary way of conducting bartering as an alternative to market trade that has deep cultural roots in Fiji. Such forms of exchange have serious implications for the study of digital practices and relational systems of exchange in Fiji and beyond.
Social Media and its Impact on Young Men & Women's Political Participation in Fiji
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.2139/SSRN.2954890
A crucible for bottom-up regionalism? The digital renaissance
Publisher: Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library
Date: 31-07-2020
Abstract: Commentary: West Papua has one of the most repressive media landscapes in the world. Consequently, West Papuans have increasingly harnessed social media platforms to broadcast human rights violations committed in West Papua. Through this, Pacific Islanders around the region are increasingly leveraging social media as a political tool for showing solidarity and support for West Papuans. As a result, in recent years there has been a regional groundswell in support for West Papuan demands for self-determination, with prominent political figures such as Peter O’Neill of Papua New Guinea, and Gordon Darcy Lilo alluding to the awareness on West Papuan issues that have been raised through social media. This commentary explores how the rise of West Papua solidarity, is resulting in a heightened Pacific regional consciousness at the community level.
Piecemeal stewardship activities miss numerous social and environmental benefits associated with culturally appropriate ways of caring for country
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1016/J.JENVMAN.2022.116750
Abstract: Prior research has identified both the contribution that people make to nature and the contribution that nature makes to people (by enhancing wellbeing) - with clear conceptual models to describe the interactions. Prior research has also made a clear case for incorporating insights from multiple perspectives and knowledge systems when seeking to better understand this interactive system. What is lacking, is guidance on how to operationalise some of these ideas to provide bespoke advice to environmental managers. Arguably, we have an adequate, albeit imperfect, understanding of how to operationalise (measure, value and/or otherwise account for) some parts of the conceptual model. There is, for ex le, abundant literature that describes different ways of valuing Ecosystem services, and a growing body of literature that describes and quantifies the ecological benefits of various stewardship activities, which will subsequently also generate an indirect benefit to people (since improved ecological conditions will improve Ecosystem services). In comparison, we know relatively little about the way in which stewardship activities directly benefit people - and it is on this gap that our paper focuses. We partially fill that knowledge gap by first reaching out to and learning from some of Australia's First Nations People. Key learnings underscore the inter-connectedness of the system, and the need for resource managers to not only monitor the extent and condition of natural system but also the extent and condition of an inextricably connected human system, in addition to the human-nature interactions. We clearly identify ways in which those insights can be used to improve and extend accounting frameworks, such as SEEA Ecosystem Accounts developed by the United Nations that are often used by natural resource managers. In so doing, we generate new insights about Indigenous stewardship (Caring for Country) and methods of accounting for and monitoring stewardship activities. As such, our work provides a practical illustration of one way to populate conceptual models with 'real world' data that also incorporates different world views, to support decision makers for improved social and environmental outcomes.
Resistance is fertile: A Bourdieusian analysis of accounting and land reform in Fiji
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2023
Social media and disaster communication: A case study of Cyclone Winston
Publisher: Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library
Date: 17-07-2018
Abstract: This article presents an analysis of how social media was used during Tropical Cyclone Winston, the strongest recorded tropical storm that left a wake of destruction and devastation in Fiji during February 2016. Social media is increasingly being used in crises and disasters as an alternative form of communication. Social media use in crisis communication varies according to the context, the disaster and the maturity of social media use. Fiji’s experience during TC Winston contributes to the growing literature as it shows how social media was used during each stage of a disaster in a developing country. The article finds that before the cyclone, people used social media to share information about the cyclone and to be informed about the cyclone. During the cyclone, in iduals used social media to share their experiences with some citizens capturing the cyclone as it happened and even one citizen live-tweeted her ordeal during the cyclone. Finally, following the cyclone, the hashtag #StrongerThanWinston was coined as a rallying point to bolster a sense of national solidarity.
Interrogating the environmental accountability of foreign oil and gas companies in Basra, Iraq: a stakeholder theory perspective
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 28-02-2023
DOI: 10.1108/MEDAR-08-2021-1425
Abstract: This paper aims to interrogate the accountabilities of the foreign companies which have directly invested in the Iraqi oil and gas industry. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the authors first map the stakeholder accountabilities (qualitative) of foreign oil and gas companies and second, the authors seek to demonstrate quantitatively – through structural break tests and publicly available sustainability reports – whether these companies have accounted for their environmental and social impacts both to Iraqi people and to the global community. The authors find that the Western democratic values embedded in stakeholder theory, in terms of sustainability, do not hold the same meaning in cultural contexts where conceptions and application of Western democratic values are deeply problematic. This paper identifies a crucial problem in the global oil supply chain and problematises the application of traditional theoretical approaches in the context of the Iraqi oil and gas industry. Implications of this study include the refocus of attention onto the local and global environmental impacts of the Iraqi oil and gas industry by foreign direct investments. Such a refocus highlights the reasons and ways that decision makers should accommodate these less salient stakeholders. The primary contribution is the critique of the lack of environmental accountability of foreign direct investment companies in the Iraqi oil and gas industry. The authors also make theoretical and methodological contributions via the problematisation of the cultural bias inherent in traditional stakeholder theories, and by introducing a quantitative method to evaluate the accountabilities of companies.
Internet under threat?: The politics of online censorship in the Pacific Islands
Publisher: Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library
Date: 02-11-2018
Abstract: In the Pacific, there have been startling news releases of governments making attempts at censoring the internet, a move seen to point towards silencing dissenting views on popular online forums. The conflicting trends between the new political forum ushered in by the new media on the one hand, and the restrictive mode of state censorship on the other hand, pose serious challenges to the broader framework of rights and freedom of expressions. The aim of this article is to examine the regulatory approaches being developed and/or proposed in response to the emergence of new media in Pacific Island Countries (PICs). This article reviews two ways in which Pacific island governments are attempting to regulate the internet: firstly through the development of legislation to prosecute cybercriminals, and secondly through the banning of certain internet sites, most notably Facebook. Despite the disparities in internet penetration levels, the article reveals that nearly all countries in the Pacific are increasingly regulating or are moving towards regulating the internet. The justifications for internet regulation and censorship are largely predicated around the rhetoric of protecting its citizens from the negative effects of the internet. However, these regulations seem to be a response to Pacific Island governments’ fears of growing criticism and dissent on social media platforms.
Imagining the Future of Social and Environmental Accounting Research for Pacific Small Island Developing States
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-01-2020
Coastal Grabbing by Extractive Industries in the South Pacific
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 02-06-2023
Old ways and new means: Indigenous accountings during and beyond the pandemic
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 11-05-2021
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-08-2020-4753
Abstract: The study uses the case of an online-mediated barter economy that proliferated during the COVID-19 crisis to highlight Indigenous notions of barter, trade and exchange. A netnographic approach was employed which involved collecting online posts and comments which were stored and analysed in NVivo. This was supplemented with field notes and reflections from authors with an intimate knowledge of the context. These were analysed thematically. The overall methodology is inspired by decolonising methodologies that seek to restore the agency of Indigenous Peoples in research towards self-determination. Findings suggest that during and beyond the crisis, social media (a new means) is being used to facilitate barter and determinations of/accounting for value within. This is being done through constant appeals to, and adaptation of, tradition (old ways). Indigenous accounting is therefore best understood as so through Indigenous accountability values and practices. This paper propose a re-orientation of accounting for barter research that incorporates recent debates between the disciplines of economics and anthropology on the nature of barter, debt and exchange. The authors also propose a re-imagining of accounting and accountability relations based on Indigenous values within an emerging online barter system in Fiji during COVID-19 as “old ways and new means” to privilege Indigenous agency and overcome excessive essentialism.
Varieties of Neo-colonialism: Government Accounting Reforms in Anglophone and Francophone Africa – Benin and Ghana Compared
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 02-09-2019
Agents of alienation: accountants and the land grab of Papua New Guinea
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 10-07-2019
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-10-2017-3185
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore and examine the role of accounting and accountants in customary land transactions between Indigenous peoples and foreign corporate entities. The paper uses the case of two accountants who utilised accounting technologies in lease agreements to alienate customary land from Indigenous landowners in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Employing a case study methodology, the paper draws on contemporary data sets of transcripts related to a Commission of Inquiry established in 2011 to investigate PNG’s Special Agricultural Business Lease system. Analysis of other publicly available data and semi-structured interviews with PNG landowners and other stakeholders supplement and triangulate data from the inquiry transcripts. A Bourdieusian lens was adopted to conceptualise how accounting was used in the struggles for customary land between foreign developers and Indigenous landowners within the wider capitalist field and the traditional Melanesian field. This paper reveals how accountants exploited PNG’s customary land registration system, the Indigenous peoples’ lack of financial literacy and their desperation for development to alienate customary land from landowners. The accountants employed accounting technologies in the sublease agreements to reduce their royalty obligations to the landowners and to impose penalty clauses that made it financially impossible for the landowners to cancel the leases. The accountants used accounting to normalise, legitimise and rationalise these exploitative arrangements in formal lease contracts. This paper responds to the call for research on accounting and Indigenous peoples that is contemporary rather than historic examines the role of accountants in Indigenous relations, and examines the emancipatory potential of accounting.
Land, land banks and land back: Accounting, social reproduction and Indigenous resurgence
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 19-11-2021
DOI: 10.1177/0308518X211060842
Abstract: This paper situates Indigenous social reproduction as a duality as both a site of primitive accumulation and as a critical, resurgent, land-based practice. Drawing on three distinct cases from British Columbia, Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and Bua, Fiji, we illustrate how accounting techniques can be a key mechanism with which Indigenous modes of life are brought to the market and are often foundational to the establishment of markets. We argue that accounting practices operate at the vanguard of primitive accumulation by extracting once invaluable outsides (e.g. Indigenous land and bodies) and rendering these either valuable or valueless for the social reproduction of settler society. The commodification of Indigenous social reproduction sustains the conditions that enable capitalism to flourish through primitive accumulation. However, we privilege Indigenous agency, resistance and resurgence in our analysis to illustrate that these techniques of commodification through accounting are not inevitable. They are resisted or wielded towards Indigenous alternatives at every point.
Power and performance: Fiji rugby’s transition from amateurism to professionalism
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-2016
Abstract: This article shows how accounting and rugby have been used as tools of control. It compares the role of accounting in amateur and professional sport, initially analysing the Fiji Rugby Union’s (FRU) internal documents from the period when Fiji was a British colony and rugby was an amateur sport. During this period, the FRU practised rudimentary accounting since it relied primarily on internally-generated funds and therefore had virtually no public accountability. The FRU board emphasized rugby’s core values and downplayed the importance of money. However, in the professional period, donors require more sophisticated financial reporting and auditing to monitor usage of their grants and evaluate the impact of their investments. The FRU has encountered conflict with its donors due to repeated financial losses and alleged mismanagement. This article reveals that those losses originated in the amateur period through diseconomies of scale, inequitable arrangements for international matches and unsustainable funding models. Rather than helping the FRU to address these underlying problems, powerful stakeholders continue using financial resources and governance structures to control and exploit Fiji rugby.
Indications and utility of cardiac genetic testing in athletes.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 16-06-2022
Abstract: Sports Cardiology practice commonly involves the evaluation of athletes for genetically determined cardiac conditions that may predispose to malignant arrhythmias, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death. High-level exercise can lead to electrical and structural cardiac remodelling which mimics inherited cardiac conditions (ICCs). Differentiation between 'athlete's heart' and pathology can be challenging and often requires the whole armamentarium of available investigations. Genetic studies over the last 30 years have identified many of the genetic variants that underpin ICCs and technological advances have transformed genetic testing to a more readily available and affordable clinical tool which may aid diagnosis, management, and prognosis. The role of genetic testing in the evaluation and management of athletes with suspected cardiac conditions is often unclear beyond the context of specialist cardio-genetics centres. This document is aimed at physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals involved in the athlete's care. With the expanding role and availability of genetic testing in mind, this document was created to address the needs of the broader sports cardiology community, most of whom work outside specialized cardio-genetics centres, when faced with the evaluation and management of athletes with suspected ICC. The first part of the document provides an overview of basic terminology and principles and offers guidance on the appropriate use of genetic testing in the assessment of such athletes. It outlines key considerations when contemplating genetic testing, highlighting the potential benefits and pitfalls, and offers a roadmap to genetic testing. The second part of the document presents common clinical scenarios in Sports Cardiology practice, outlining the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications of genetic testing, including impact on exercise recommendations. The scope of this document does not extend to a comprehensive description of the genetic basis, investigation, or management of ICCs.
Disaster Preparedness and the Abeyance of Agency: Christian Responses to Tropical Cyclone Winston in Fiji
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-2019
A new frontier in digital activism: An exploration of digital feminism in Fiji
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2018
DOI: 10.1002/APP5.253
Climate change advocacy in the Pacific: The role of information and communication technologies
Publisher: Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Library
Date: 21-07-2017
Abstract: This article explores the phenomenon of the use of ICT for climate change activism in the Pacific. Climate change activism in the Pacific is characterised by the use of ICT tools such as social media. The article draws on semi-structured interviews and an analysis of social media sites to examine the use of social media in Pacific climate change c aigns. While other c aigns such as relating to West Papua have also been facilitated by social media, it has been generally NGO, citizen-led and varied in Pacific government support. In contrast, climate change c aigns in the Pacific are fully supported at the NGO, citizen, and state levels. Furthermore, while early Pacific ICT-based climate change c aigns used iconic images of Pacific Islanders leaving their homelands, more recent c aigns have leveraged social media to depict Pacific Islanders not as victims but as ‘warriors’. This new imagery aims to empower Pacific Islanders and engender a regional Pacific identity that shows strength and solidarity on the Pacific’s stance towards climate change.
Disaster, Divine Judgment, and Original Sin: Christian Interpretations of Tropical Cyclone Winston and Climate Change in Fiji
Publisher: Project MUSE
Date: 2018
DOI: 10.1353/CP.2018.0032
Digital diaspora, reinvigorating Indigenous identity and online activism: social media and the reorientation of Rotuman identity
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-10-2018
Abstract: The island of Rotuma in Fiji poses a paradox. Indigenous Fijians make up more than 60% of Fiji’s population. However, as a unique ethnic group, Rotumans are a demographic minority, with their language listed on the UNESCO list of endangered languages. This is caused by extensive outmigration, with more than 80% of Rotumans residing outside of Rotuma. Recently, Rotuman migrants have heavily relied on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and new media, as tools for reinvigorating culture, rekindling familial ties and being a platform for political discourse on Rotuman issues. Facebook has been increasingly employed by Rotumans to inform and educate themselves and their networks on the implications of two bills introduced in Fiji’s Parliament in 2015, which impact Rotuma in terms of its land and customs. This article examines how Rotumans have innovatively used social media to reinvigorate culture and how this has evolved to take on an increasingly political dimension.
Indigenous practices of accounting on the ground: a Bourdieusian perspective
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 17-03-2022
DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-11-2021-5529
Abstract: This study explores accounting practice in an Indigenous organization. This organization is embedded within a rural Aboriginal community in the country currently known as Australia. In doing so, this study illustrates the intertwining of accounting practice, practitioners, organizations and social/cultural context, while recognizing that the cultural embeddedness of accounting is not uniform. Empirical materials were collected as part of a qualitative field study with an Indigenous organization. Specific methods include interviews, informal conversations, documentary reviews and participant observations. These materials were analysed through a Bourdieusian perspective. By working with Indigenous Peoples on the ground, rather than relying on secondary materials, this study highlights how the values of a community challenge and reorient accounting practice towards community aspirations. This study illustrates how fields beyond the organization influence accounting practice, including in budgeting and assurance. Exploring Indigenous practices of accounting maintains Indigenous agency and opens up space for alternative understandings and practices of accounting. By illustrating how a community can influence the accounting practice of an organization, this study has implications for wider understandings of the cultural embeddedness of mainstream accounting and possible alternatives.
Bartering as a Form of Resilience During COVID-19: Case Study of Barter for Better Fiji Facebook Page
Publisher: Springer Nature Singapore
Date: 2021
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