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This paper aims to examine the nature and level of disclosures on engagement with Aboriginal communities by Australian mining companies.

Content analysis of annual and sustainability reports of Australian Stock Exchange listed companies was undertaken to address the central research aim of this paper. An Aboriginal engagement framework was developed based on the five dimensions suggested by Reconciliation Australia.

The findings of the study report an overall low level of disclosures on Aboriginal engagement by mining companies and reveal that corporate disclosures largely focus on Land and Native title agreements, Aboriginal employment and corporate investment in Aboriginal socio-economic development. The least reported issues include Aboriginal immersion experience, Aboriginal inclusion in leadership roles and commitment to the reconciliation process. The findings of the study suggest that although corporate engagement practices have started to recognise and incorporate marginalised stakeholder rights and issues, only a few companies have created necessary avenues to empower Aboriginal communities. Regarding the reconciliation process, the findings reveal that the companies are mostly reporting on only three out of the five dimensions of the framework.

This study provides a better understanding of the current state of Aboriginal engagement practices in the mining sector, in particular the issues and gaps in reporting Aboriginal engagement to align it with the national reconciliation process, which will be useful for policymakers and, possibly, standard setters to develop future Aboriginal engagement and disclosure policies.

In spite of the rapid development of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure, disclosure of corporate impacts on Aboriginal people and reconciliation with Aboriginal communities has been given little attention in business CSR practice and previous CSR disclosure literature. This research fills this gap and investigates the increasing uptake of Aboriginal engagement disclosures by business corporations.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether a shared leadership governance arrangement facilitates improved outcomes within a social marketing service eco-system. The research was focussed on gaining an understanding of participants involved in a cross-institutional partnership. The case study selected to facilitate this exploration was a social marketing project that aimed to support aboriginal households in Victoria with regard to their energy efficiency. It thus investigated the meso-level insights experienced by partners and those delivering the service.

Interview (yarn-based) data from 20 individuals involved in an energy efficiency programme were collected and analysed. Participants shared their experiences via informal “yarns” that were conducted in the first 12 months of the programme. This timing was chosen to gain their initial self-reflective perspectives and their interactions within the shared leadership model.

The results of the analysis identified six key themes that are interrelated and fundamental to building trust between all actors involved. The themes include relationship building, advocating rights, managing competing priorities, being community driven, using communication that translates and using community networks. Four of the themes were found to be components of relationship and trust building, which collectively lead to effectively accessing aboriginal communities. These findings extend current knowledge on the structures necessary to ensure healthy eco-systems are sustained throughout social marketing programmes.

The authors established that shared leadership is well aligned with service-dominant logic, and the findings of this study reveal that it can positively contribute to meso-level service eco-systems and thus improve social outcomes for recipients of social marketing efforts. The findings also underscore the need for social marketers to recognise the importance of having a culturally acceptable value co-creation model in social marketing programmes when working with Aboriginal Australians.

This paper is the first to explore and develop the authors’ understanding of the efficacy of adopting a shared leadership approach in social marketing. Shared leadership has the potential to be an institutional arrangement that facilitates service-dominant logic and the value co-creation process, influencing positive behaviour change at the micro level in aboriginal communities. Specifically, it is the first to identify that “advocating rights” is an important component for partners to adopt in cross-cultural collaborations when collectively running social marketing programmes.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the self‐reported attitudes toward Aboriginal policing of officers in isolated/remote communities with those from accessible Aboriginal communities.

Survey results are reported for 294 officers working in Aboriginal communities throughout Canada.

Officers working in remote jurisdictions tended to be younger, better educated, and had less policing experience than those working in non‐isolated Aboriginal communities. Social problems in these remote communities were thought to be more serious than those reported by officers working in accessible Aboriginal communities. Despite these demographic and contextual differences, self‐reported attitudes toward Aboriginal policing were generally similar, although officers working in isolated communities tended to report more conservative views on enforcement.

The generalizability of the results is limited by the modest (40.7 percent) response rate, and the fact that officers working in Aboriginal agencies were less likely to participate than those working for national or provincial police services.

The results suggest that more effective recruiting, training, and retention strategies should be developed for officers working in Aboriginal communities.

This is the first comprehensive study of the perceptions of officers toward Aboriginal policing. While the police in isolated communities represent a small proportion of all law enforcement officers, their insight sheds light on this often misunderstood and under‐researched aspect of law enforcement.

In partnership with the University of Western Australia (UWA), the strengths-based National Empowerment Project (NEP) brought together researchers from across Australia and began to address issues surrounding Aboriginal wellbeing and, in particular, the high rates of Aboriginal deaths by suicide. The NEP utilised participatory action research (PAR) and was concerned with promoting positive cultural, social, and emotional wellbeing (CSEWB) and building capacity and resilience within Aboriginal communities. Throughout the NEP, consultations with 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities led to the development of a CSEWB program. The program seeks to increase self-determination and empowerment, developing participants’ awareness of a variety of issues relevant to wellbeing. This enables participants to gain a greater understanding of the holistic nature of CSEWB and the complex influences on Aboriginal wellbeing at individual, family, and community levels. This chapter is concerned with the development and delivery of the CSEWB program within three community sites in Perth, Western Australia. Shared philosophical approaches of the CSEWB program, between UWA and Aboriginal communities were human rights and social justice, community ownership, community capacity building, a strong focus on resilience, empowerment and partnerships, respect for local knowledge, and the delivery of community consultations. Investigation into the impacts of the program are based in an anti-colonial space, employing Indigenous Standpoint Theory and PAR approaches. This chapter demonstrates the success of the CSEWB program, links this success to the vital importance of Indigenous research ethics, and positions the research within an empowering and capacity-building context.

This chapter outlines the successful community engagement process used by the authors for the Kinship Online project in the context of Indigenous methodological, epistemological, and ethical considerations. It juxtaposes Indigenous and western ways of teaching and research, exploring in greater detail the differences between them. The following chapter builds on and extends Riley, Howard-Wagner, Mooney & Kutay (2013, in press) to delve deeply into the importance of embedding Aboriginal cultural knowledge in curriculum at the university level.

The chapter gives an account of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLTC) grant to develop Indigenous Online Cultural Teaching and Sharing Resources (the Kinship Online Project). The project is built on an existing face-to-face interactive presentation based on Australian Aboriginal Kinship systems created by Lynette Riley, which is being re-developed as an online cultural education workshop.

A key consideration of the researchers has been Aboriginal community engagement in relation to the design and development of the project. The chapter delves deeply into the importance of embedding Aboriginal cultural knowledge into curriculum at the university level. In doing so, the chapter sets out an Aboriginal community engagement model compared with a western research model which the authors hope will be useful to other researchers who wish to engage in research with Aboriginal people and/or communities.

In negotiation with diamond enterprises, Aboriginal communities have provided their consent for the diamond mines and have ensured their participation in all diamond projects within their traditional territories. The purpose of this study is to evaluate partnership strategies.

Interviews.

Natural resource enterprises support more than 650 Canadian communities and according to industry Canada this accounts for 12 percent of Canada's gross domestic product. The diamond industry accounts for 4 percent of the nation's expenditures on mining and processing and it is poised for significant growth and contribution to the economy. This emerging industry has created a unique opportunity for Aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories, also known as NWT.

Diavik's success story shows that a good mining strategy is to think beyond extraction, and to be a good corporate citizen, supporting communities and their enterprises. In 2005, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business awarded Diavik the gold award. As well, the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada awarded Diavik an award for protecting its natural surroundings and for its efforts to establish and maintain good relations with local communities.

Five communities have signed partnership agreements with Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., providing joint control of training, employment and business opportunities. This paper discusses the commitments, and the progress, made by Diavik in the participation agreements.

The purpose of this paper is to document experiences of Aboriginal students in community colleges from the perspective of Aboriginal communities rather than policymakers and shows how these communities support student persistence in college.

Interviews with 16 Aboriginal college students, staff and community members were undertaken with Aboriginal guidance, and analysis was undertaken informed by the writings of Aboriginal scholars.

The major finding was that First Nations students experience a disconnect between the epistemology of Aboriginal peoples and ways of being in community colleges. Most demonstrate bravery and persistence in their studies as well as resistance to assimilation. Understanding and support is provided by surrounding Aboriginal communities, based on their appreciation of the epistemological roots of the problem.

Frequent reference to the absence of Indigenous Knowledges suggests that more must be done to make Aboriginal students feel safe in colleges where they are in the minority. In view of their feeling of “disconnect,” safe Aboriginal centers, or “homes away from home” are one of many ways to support these students.

The research challenges assimilationist approaches to Aboriginal college students, and highlights supporting Indigenous peoples, as described in global terms by Indigenous scholars.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the political dimensions in the relationships between mining companies and their aboriginal stakeholders in Australia. Practical applications of stakeholder approaches to corporate social responsibility (CSR) can overlook indigenous people at the local level of those who are most affected by mining.

Informed by critical discourse analysis, the paper reports on a critical web‐based study that synthesises disparate community and business perspectives to explore the representations of CSR relationships between mining companies and aboriginal stakeholders.

Through their rhetorical manipulation of the CSR discourse, mining companies construct a homogeneous representation of aboriginal peoples, for strategic purposes. Companies maintain a public image as good corporate citizens, while using the rhetoric to divert their CSR activities to less problematic indigenous groups, thus ignoring the claims of stakeholders who are more directly affected by mining.

While web‐based research of CSR relationships can incorporate disparate perspectives to reveal the critical complexities of the relationships, the resultant interpretations cannot be conclusive. Thus more comprehensive on‐site ethnographic fieldwork is required, and the web‐based studies can be used to identify issues and contradictions to be investigated in the field.

This critical evaluation of the CSR relationships between mining companies and their indigenous stakeholders offers an independent appreciation of those relationships and the political nuances in them. The paper provides evidence of the corporate appropriation of the CSR discourse for corporate image‐enhancing purposes and shows how the mining companies adopt this approach in their practice of the CSR rhetoric.

This research aims to examine the performativity of corporate reports as an example of an accounting inscription that can frame the relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities and their stakeholders. The framing and overflow effects of these reports have been explored to consider whether they strengthen or undermine the reputation and capability of these community-controlled entities.

Aligned with actor–network theory and a decolonising research protocol, qualitative interviews were conducted with senior managers and directors of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities and their key stakeholders to explore their experiences of corporate reporting. Additional analysis of these organisations' annual reports was conducted to corroborate key reporting themes.

This research has identified a dual role for corporate reporting, simultaneously framing performance against an expectation of failure, but with the potential for accounting inscriptions to highlight positive contributions to cultural and community priorities. It also indicates the need for sector specifics within the reporting frameworks and adequate resourcing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities to meet reporting obligations.

This research makes policy-based recommendations in terms of user-driven and culturally informed performance measures. It also highlights the importance of adequate funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities to carry out meaningful performance evaluations beyond the preparation of financial statements.

One of the few empirical studies to capture the performativity of accounting inscriptions from the perspective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entities. This sector has received minimal attention within the accounting discipline, despite significantly contributing to community well-being and cultural protection. There is emancipatory potential via policy frameworks that resonate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural beliefs and practices.

There is an increasing interest in using information and communication technologies to support health services. But the adoption and development of even basic ICT communications services in many health services is limited, leaving enormous gaps in the broad understanding of its role in health care delivery. The purpose of this paper is to address a specific (intercultural) area of healthcare communications consumer disadvantage; and it examines the potential for ICT exploitation through the lens of a conceptual framework. The opportunity to pursue a new solutions pathway has been amplified in recent times through the development of computer-based ontologies and the resultant knowledge from ontologist activity and consequential research publishing.

A specific intercultural area of patient disadvantage arises from variations in meaning and understanding of patient and clinician words, phrases and non-verbal expression. Collection and localization of data concepts, their attributes and individual instances were gathered from an Aboriginal trainee nurse focus group and from a qualitative gap analysis (QGA) of 130 criteria-selected sources of literature. These concepts, their relationships and semantic interpretations populate the computer ontology. The ontology mapping involves two domains, namely, Aboriginal English (AE) and Type II diabetes care guidelines. This is preparatory to development of the Patient Practitioner Assistive Communications (PPAC) system for Aboriginal rural and remote patient primary care.

The combined QGA and focus group output reported has served to illustrate the call for three important drivers of change. First, there is no evidence to contradict the hypothesis that patient-practitioner interview encounters for many Australian Aboriginal patients and wellbeing outcomes are unsatisfactory at best. Second, there is a potent need for cultural competence knowledge and practice uptake on the part of health care providers; and third, the key contributory component to determine success or failures within healthcare for ethnic minorities is communication. Communication, however, can only be of value in health care if in practice it supports shared cognition; and mutual cognition is rarely achievable when biopsychosocial and other cultural worldview differences go unchallenged.

There has been no direct engagement with remote Aboriginal communities in this work to date. The authors have initially been able to rely upon a cohort of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with relevant cultural expertise and extended family relationships. Among these advisers are health care practitioners, academics, trainers, Aboriginal education researchers and workshop attendees. It must therefore be acknowledged that as is the case with the QGA, the majority of the concept data is from third parties. The authors have also discovered that urban influences and cultural sensitivities tend to reduce the extent of, and opportunity to, witness AE usage, thereby limiting the ability to capture more examples of code-switching. Although the PPAC system concept is qualitatively well developed, pending future work planned for rural and remote community engagement the authors presently regard the work as mostly allied to a hypothesis on ontology-driven communications. The concept data population of the AE home talk/health talk ontology has not yet reached a quantitative critical mass to justify application design model engineering and real-world testing.

Computer ontologies avail us of the opportunity to use assistive communications technology applications as a dynamic support system to elevate the pragmatic experience of health care consultations for both patients and practitioners. The human-machine interactive development and use of such applications is required just to keep pace with increasing demand for healthcare and the growing health knowledge transfer environment. In an age when the worldwide web, communications devices and social media avail us of opportunities to confront the barriers described the authors have begun the first construction of a merged schema for two domains that already have a seemingly intractable negative connection. Through the ontology discipline of building syntactically and semantically robust and accessible concepts; explicit conceptual relationships; and annotative context-oriented guidance; the authors are working towards addressing health literacy and wellbeing outcome deficiencies of benefit to the broader communities of disadvantage patients.