Family, Kinship, and Contested Governance in Australian Indigenous Organisations
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2025
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In Australia, there are thousands of Indigenous organisations. Since the late 1970s, these organisations have experienced poor corporate governance, often leading to corporate failure and legal action. This failure has been conceptualised in binary terms, as being caused by (a) the cultural incompatibility of traditional Indigenous governance principles, practices, and values with those of the Settler State, or (b) because Indigenous people have lost sovereignty and are forced to comply with the Settler State’s governance paradigm. This conflict has been described as contested governance. The author presents another explanation for contested governance, as the conflict between kin and non-kin within the organisations. The author demonstrates that Indigenous organisations are often family and kinship-based and can be categorised as family businesses. The governing bodies and members on the one hand, and management on the other, make decisions about the allocation of scarce resources, governance and organisational practices and policies, and values based on the application of the Family and Management Institutional Logics. Indigenous organisations can be studied as family businesses. The author suggests that solutions to corporate governance problems within Indigenous organisations can be drawn and developed from those used now in family business.
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