Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/3940

Title: "Unfinished Business": Accounting and the 'enslavement' of Aboriginal children
Authors: Greer, Susan
Keywords: Stolen wages
Government accountability
Accounting in social context
Aboriginal Apprenticeship programs NSW
Senate Inquiry 2006: Unfinished business: Indigenous stolen wages
Australian Government Intervention in Indigenous Communities
Colonial practices and social disadvantage
Removal of Aboriginal children
Forced labour
Misappropriation and mishandling of Indigenous money
Protection Acts
Issue Date: 29-Aug-2008
Series/Report no.: Koori Centre Lectures
Abstract: Several inquiries initiated by various Australian governments have documented the importance of policies and programs for the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their families into forced indenture under government-negotiated contracts. The most recent of these studies completed in 2006 by the Australian Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs reveals the connectedness between these policies and accounting technologies. This study examines the roles played by accounting in the constitution and implementation of such programs. The analysis highlights not only how accounting facilitated the problematisation of Aboriginal children as a site for government, but also how accounting technologies enabled the constitution and translation of the indenture programs into practice. This study provides an historical context in which to comprehend both contemporary Indigenous experiences and the role of accounting in the subordination of Indigenous peoples. The analysis reveals how the reliance on accounting techniques, and the prioritisation of accountability relations with the State in the name of good governance helped mask the extent of the inequities and the racial (and economic) discrimination against the Aboriginal population.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/3940
Rights and Permissions: The University of Sydney claims copyright ownership of all information stored on this site, unless expressly stated otherwise
Type of Work: Presentation
Recording, oral
Appears in Collections:Koori Centre Lectures

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