Racist Ideology & Hashtag activism: The Collision of Art, Brand and Law in Peter Drew’s Aussie Folk Hero, Monga Khan

Racist ideology is reproduced in daily communications and in art. Racism is also challenged. In this essay I explore the way ideology is present in Peter Drew’s ‘Monga Khan’ posters — artwork designed to provoke critical reflection about representations of race and Australian identity. Part I discusses the ideological engagement Peter Drew anticipated arising from his art ‘hactivism’ and critical reception of the work. I compare Drew’s oeuvre to 1970–80s protest posters, showing the effects of greater exposure to intellectual property constructs, marketing, and commercial branding on the ambition of art activism. Part II shows how attribution practices in the art world and media connect the politics of hactivist art with commodification. I discuss how ‘Blackness’, represented by Drew in the form of challenge to racialized ideas of Australian identity, functions as Drew’s ‘second skin’, or brand identity. Subaltern voices also challenge the authority of white artists to speak for the ‘Other’, but due to the way today we attribute ownership to image and voice, these protests metamorphise into a passing parade of objectified cultural difference. Part III draws out the implications for law, addressing the socio-legal reproduction of ideology, outside of relations normally identified with the lived experience of law

The Politics of Peer to Peer

Whereas Lessig's recent work engages with questions of culture and creativity in society, this paper looks at the role of culture and creativity in the law. The paper evaluates the Napster, DeCSS, Felten and Sklyarov litigation in terms of the new social, legal, economic and cultural relations being produced. This involves a deep discussion of law's economic relations, and the implications of this for litigation strategy. The paper concludes with a critique of recent attempts to define copyright law in terms of first amendment rights and communicative freedom

Supply Chain Legitimation through CSR Reporting

This conceptual paper explores the legitimating process of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in relation to supply chain management. To date, the literature on CSR reporting, in relating to supply chain management, is based on individual segments within supply chains. This paper introduces a framework for the holistic evaluation of the entire supply chain CSR reporting, including the adoption of social audits as a legitimation tool. The theoretical lens of three perspectives of legitimation (structural-functionalist, social-constructionist and hegemonic) are explored as possible approaches to assess the drivers behind organisations in a supply chain reporting on their CSR performance and management. The main finding of this paper is that the development and implementation of the presented framework for evaluating the CSR reporting of the entire supply chain, including social auditing, is a valuable legitimation tool for organisations in a supply chain, and for the industry within which these organisations operate

Local Government investing: a form of gambling?

Local councils in New South Wales (NSW) have the authority to invest ratepayers’ money that is not currently required for any other purpose by the council. At the end of 2006-07 financial year local councils in New South Wales had invested $590 million dollars in structured financial products such as collateralised debt obligations (CDO). By the end of January 2008, six months later, the market value of these investments dropped$200 million to $390 million. Since then the financial investment market has further significantly reduced with the value of the councils’ investments losing many more millions of dollars. In NSW the state government commissioned a review of the financial exposures of NSW local councils to be undertaken by Michael Cole. The Cole Report published in 2008 found that while acting within the parameters of the Local Government Act (1993), local councils had pursued high return high risk investment strategies. This paper reviews and evaluates how the local councils in NSW, identified by Cole as having a high level of exposure to these forms of investments, have disclosed their financial investments in their 2007-08 financial reports; the type of audit opinion expressed on these reports; and the impact of these investment related losses on the ability of NSW local councils to provide current and future services

Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting of Two Note-issuing Banks in Hong Kong

The environmental performance and management disclosure of organisations has over the past decade come under increased scrutiny due to a number of factors including, in particular, the impact organisations have had on the world’s environment and the corresponding rapid change in the world’s climate. These concerns have made organisations, including financial institutions, review the level of their environmental performance and management disclosures to demonstrate, amongst other objectives, their level of social responsibility. Financial institutions due to the nature of their business are not generally seen to contribute directly to the degradation of the environment however they do provide the funds for many organisations’ projects which do directly impact on the environment. This paper will review the environmental performance and management disclosures of two note issuing banks in Hong Kong; the Hongkong and Shangihai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK) from 2003 to 2006. This review will be conducted with reference to the Equator Principles, a voluntary environmental performance framework, which were developed specifically for financial institutions. The second purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on legitimation theory with specific reference to the social constructionalist perspective of legitimation

Corporate social responsibility reporting of two note-issuing banks in Hong Kong

The environmental performance and management disclosure of organisations came under increased scrutiny over the past decade due to several factors, particularly the impact organisations have on the world’s environment and the rapid change in the world’s climate. These concerns prompted organisations, including financial institutions, to review the level of their environmental performance and management disclosures to demonstrate, amongst other objectives, their level of social responsibility. Due to the nature of their business, financial institutions are not generally seen to contribute directly to the degradation of the environment; however, they do provide the funds for many organisations’ projects which directly affect the environment. This paper reviews the environmental performance and management disclosure developments in China specifically by two note-issuing banks in Hong Kong: the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK) from 2003 to 2006. The review is conducted with reference to the Equator Principles, a voluntary environmental performance framework developed specifically for financial institutions. The paper also contributes to the literature on legitimation theory, using a social constructionalist perspective of legitimation

The influence of Jeremy Bentham on recent Public Sector Financial Reforms

Jeremy Bentham’s (1748 – 1832) work while vast is generally considered to be based primarily on economics, law, social control, public administration and public interest. His most notable contributions are in the areas of utilitarianism, a moral theory where the correct action is one which produces the greatest amount of happiness or least amount of pain for the greatest number of people, and the use of a system of constant surveillance, panopticon, to internalise the desired behaviour of individuals. Bentham also made significant contributions to public sector financial accountability through his work on the principle of publicity where he outlined the need for “the doors of all public establishments … to be, thrown wide open to the body of the curious at large” (Bentham cited in Bowring 1843, p. 46). The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine the similarities of Bentham’s work and the New Public Management practices currently influencing public sector financial reforms. The theoretical framework of this paper is shaped through a reflection of Bentham’s work on utilitarianism, public administration, bookkeeping and publicity (reporting) and a review of the rationale behind the relatively recent New Public Management ideology which has driven many of the recent public sector financial reforms. The paper argues that many of today’s public sector financial accountability processes and procedures associated with recent public sector financial reforms, which are based on New Public Management, reflect much of Bentham’s work. For example the preparation of publicly available budget reports such as Portfolio Budget Statements, which contain the proposed annual expenditure of government departments and are used to assist in the discharge of public sector organisations’ financial accountability, could be linked to Bentham’s principle of publicity. The key finding of this paper is that research based on Bentham’s work will improve the understanding of the recent New Public Management based public sector financial reforms

Decolonising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research

There is an important but unwieldy research policy infrastructure designed to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research and researchers. This framework links the key performance indicators and policies of funders and institutions to researchers and communities. In this article, we explain the relevant policies and targets, with a view to showing how sector regulation interconnects in practice and identifying ways to strengthen institutional commitments to meaningful engagement with, and implementation of, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research policy. We suggest next steps that are needed to help researchers comply with funder and institution-mandated obligations and to empower Indigenous Peoples to make informed decisions about the benefits of research collaboration with universities

NSW Local Council investment exposures

The decline in the sub-prime market in the United State of America in 2007 -2008 andthe corresponding decline in the market values of other financial investments has hada significant financial impact on many of the individuals and organisations whoparticipated in aggressively promoted investment schemes. The New South Wales(NSW) Local Government Councils was one such group of organisations impacted bythe decline in value of these types of investments. At the end of the 2006-2007financial year local councils in New South Wales had invested $590 million dollars instructured financial products such as collateralised debt obligations (CDO). By theend of January 2008, six months later, the market value of these investments dropped$200 million (34%) to $390 million. In response to the decreasing value of the localcouncil investments the NSW State Government commissioned a review of thefinancial exposures of NSW local councils in structured financial products. Thereview found that while acting within the parameters of the Local Government Act(1993), local councils had pursued high return high risk investment strategies. Thispaper reviews and evaluates financial investment exposures of the local councils inNSW and the resulting mix (unqualified/qualified) independent audit opinions issuedon their general purpose financial reports. This paper will contribute to the literatureon the wide spread impact of the 2008 global financial crisis as well as the quality ofLocal Government council financial report audits