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In this book chapter, I focus on the epistemological, ontological and axiological practice traditions that help to reveal the taken-for-granted assumptions about the management of trust funds in First Nation communities. Informing this chapter is a qualitative research study involving 11 First Nation community members in Canada who were interviewed. Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing and the theory of practice architectures are used to identify the cultural discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that enable and/or constrain practice. The findings reveal that Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing collide adversely with trust account decision making due to the duties and obligations guiding trust settlement agreements. The ways in which trust account practices can be transformed to ensure greater alignment with Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing are outlined.

This chapter focusses on the research methodology of the completed project, drawing on what Martin (2008) described as ‘Indigenist’ research traditions or practices. The project drew upon tenets of critical race theory which developed over the life of a university teaching and learning project to support the praxis of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, or Indigenous,1 pre-service teachers on their final internships prior to graduating.

The broader project was conceptualised and framed within our prioritisation of Indigenist standpoint and critical race theory. Our project was designed to amplify the perspectives and voices of Indigenous students in situations where White, hegemonic relations appeared to constrain their potential achievement on practicum in socially unjust and often racist ways. Research into the achievement and success of Indigenous education graduates in Australia is dominated by non-Indigenous reporting, framed in deficit language of Indigenous ‘underachievement’, ‘barriers’, ‘lack’, and ‘disengagement’, rather than from their experience of injustice in their professional preparation as teachers.

The research design troubled how researchers like us ‘come to know’ Indigenous achievement in the higher education sector through the pre-service teachers’ words, impelling us to listen to stories of discrimination, rather than to official accounts of how they ‘failed’ to measure up to teacher standards. The attention to detail in the multi-site, micro-level practices in teacher education and the ways these unfold in situ for Indigenous students would not be possible without the Indigenist research methodology developed in partnership with Indigenous research colleagues and student co-researchers.

This chapter then serves to remind educational researchers that research is a practice and has practice architectures with particular hegemonic arrangements which have not transpired to serve the interests of Indigenous peoples. Honouring Indigenist standpoint and employing critical race theory in research design thus means paying particular and careful attention to the work that research practices do, on, to, and with communities, not normative (colonial) crafting of the praxis research problem.

In Australia, there are agencies funded by the government to provide support to Indigenous peoples wishing to start a business and to provide ongoing support for their businesses. In this chapter, we highlight the government-funded agencies mentioned by Indigenous small business owners and provide insights into their experiences. Informing this chapter are 36 interviews with 30 Indigenous small business owners and 6 Indigenous business stakeholders from urban, rural, and remote areas of Australia. We explore the practice of support from an axio-onto-epistemological perspective. We use the theory of practice architectures lens to analyse the data, identifying how the practice of support is enabling and constraining Indigenous small business owners. Next, we share how these government-funded agencies are understood to be used according to Indigenous stakeholders. Last, we recommend improvements that may further support and sustain Indigenous small businesses.

This paper aims to propose a set of principles for implementation of successful post-disaster social recovery in-line with the concept of “building back better” (BBB).

A set of preliminary principles for post-disaster social recovery was established from literature review. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires was chosen as a case study to examine the implemented social recovery approaches and impacts.

Analysis of the literature and case study have led to the creation of a set of modified BBB principles for social recovery under two categories, first, community support and, second, community involvement. Key principles under first category include: providing personalized support for affected families, specialized support for vulnerable groups and improved psychological support; building community cohesion; and keeping the community informed. Key principles under second category include: involving the community in designing and implementing recovery projects; providing support to the community; and maintaining full transparency.

This study focusses on one case study. The appropriateness and applicability of the proposed principles can be further tested using a range of different case studies in both developed and developing countries.

The principles presented should be incorporated into post-disaster social recovery programmes implemented by governments.

This research takes a unique look at drawing from international experiences to form a set of practical and universal principles to aid post-disaster social recovery as an important part of BBB.

This chapter will use the lens of Foucault’s governmentality to critique the use of foreign qualification recognition (FQR) in Australia’s skilled migration programme. Foucault suggests that an imperative for governments is to find ways to manage its population to ensure its security and well-being. Foucault notes the explosion of measures designed to facilitate this imperative. We argue that FQR’s use in Australia’s skilled migration programme is another such measure. It is a process designed to ascertain the relative value of one person against another using educational attainment as the meter. We examine the literature on the subject and find there are three key themes: scale, barriers and the persistence of the problem. We explore the concept of value in FQR and find arguments are divisible according to two camps. The first finds that an education qualification represents some objective and meritocratic value that a migrant possesses and that the barriers and persistence of problems are traceable to an inability to find the right way to realize this value. The second supposes that qualifications essentially represent a claim that need not have any basis in a form of essential value. Using Foucault’s governmentality, we suggest that FQR’s primary source of value in Australia’s skilled migration process is its utility as a part of a regime that identifies and classifies migrants and establishes a regime with which to assure governments of the acquisition of a population it believes are most likely to contribute to its security and future prosperity.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify and profile the indicative amount of retrofits in office buildings as a necessary step in quantifying the recurring embodied energy in office buildings. Buildings are a major source of energy usage and emissions, and office buildings are a significant contributor to this situation. Life cycle assessments in this area have tended to neglect the potentially large impact arising from recurring embodied energy associated with office fit-out – which is often akin to a short-term consumable rather than a long-term durable in many multi-storey buildings.

This study used building permit data from the Melbourne Central Business District (n = 986) over the period 2006-2010 (inclusive) to quantify the number of retrofits and related trends. Building on this, a small number of targeted case study buildings were used to probe specific issues in profiling trends associated with high-frequency trends arising from the main sample.

The data show that the number of retrofits varies according to location, grade, size and the age of buildings. Using the case study data, there is initial evidence to suggest that between 46 and 70 per cent of the floors in a high-rise office building will undergo retrofit in a five-year period. Further research should apply these data to recurring energy modelling for office buildings.

One limitation which applies to this study is that the research is limited to a defined geographical area in one Australian city, Melbourne. Secondly the study covers a specific period, and the number of retrofits may be affected negatively or positively depending on the prevailing market conditions.

This paper raises important questions in respect of life cycle carbon emissions in the context of prevailing trends to shorter lease terms and practices around fit-out.

The retrofit of office buildings tends to go unnoticed and unmeasured in the debate about sustainable buildings. The paper provides original thought development and important measurement input which will assist in providing a more accurate and meaningful life cycle assessment of office buildings.