INTHEBLACK December - January 2022 - Magazine - Page 47
at times. I think about my mum and my
grandmother, and when you get to a point
where you are sobbing your heart out and
you know something is not quite right, I feel
a strong ancestral link to them and I know
they are there guiding me.”
CULTURE AT THE CORE
Her heritage and the storytelling tradition
are central to Bodle’s teaching methods at
Griffith University. The bachelor of business
curriculum Bodle developed has a firm focus
on Indigenous culture, history and knowledge
to ensure graduates are culturally capable
when working with First Nations people.
“Organisations have human resource
departments and workplace policies on racism
and discrimination. We need to educate our
students about the importance of the history
of our First Australians, so it becomes relevant
in today’s workplaces,” she says.
The Australian Government’s Closing the
Gap Report 2020 promotes key priorities for
improving education and employment, such as
increasing the number of Indigenous-owned
and run businesses and recommending most
organisations implement a Reconciliation
Action Plan, she says.
“Every part of the economy has to be
considered, so that we have something
that is collaborative. It’s all about working
together – First Nations people working with
non-Indigenous people. We want to stop the
vicious cycle, so that we don’t repeat the past,
but we also want to learn from it and create
new ways of thinking, so that we can hear
the voices of our First Peoples and actually
embrace and value their cultures,” says Bodle.
Bodle has been involved in research
projects to influence industry professionals,
policymakers and educators around Australia.
Her strategy is to take people on a journey
and identify how to help them understand
the importance and relevance of Indigenous
culture to their area of expertise.
“I work with academic staff to look at their
existing curriculum, and we rebuild it to
include more in-depth Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander content. I then help them
and the students with authentic resources,
case studies and assessment ideas. I also
mentor the staff on how to use cultural safety
methods and modules.
“I remember being invited to sit down
with economics professors from a regional
university to explain how they could embed
First Nations content into their traditional
economics courses. At the start, they’d sit with
their arms crossed, leaning back in their chairs,
saying, ‘Oh, how are you going to add First
Nations content into an economics theory
that was developed in the 1400s?’,” she says.
“I explained that First Australians have
been here for over 65,000 years – they were
doing business before colonisation, they
practised sustainable business practices such
as managing and trading food resources. By
the end of it, they are leaning across the table
and really listening to how they can apply it
to their course and their research,” says Bodle.
The Indigenous bachelor of business
course is unique in Australia. While Bodle
talks about the benefits of making the course
attractive for Indigenous people, she also
stresses its value for the broader cohort.
“The first year we ran the Indigenous
business course, 90 per cent of the students
who enrolled were international. They said
they hoped to live in Australia one day and
wanted to know more about its beginning
and history. That is what we’d like to see.”
The course content forms part of Bodle’s
strategy to address financial literacy among
Indigenous business owners, to provide
the next generation with the tools to help
businesses succeed.
Bodle’s own PhD focused on bankruptcy.
She identified a major discrepancy in how
the value of intangible assets is measured
for many Indigenous businesses. This led
her to research and work with communities
to improve their understanding of basic
business principles and navigating financial
sustainability.
Many First Nations people start a business
accidentally, without any real guidance, says
Bodle. They may sell art or run a dance studio,
having received assistance to get started, but
may struggle when the grant runs out.
“The paperwork and legal requirements
are complicated and, while governments are
trying to do their best in providing all the
support and initiatives, there is a disconnect
between the funding and how people can
access it,” she says.
Another important goal of Bodle’s course
is to make Indigenous students feel culturally
safe and comfortable.
“The government talks about ‘closing the
gap’, but this suggests there is a missing piece.
Rather, I say it’s about ‘closing the loop’.
I want it to be that, when our kids come
from traditional country and communities
– whether urban, regional or remote – they
can identify their own culture in our teaching
and see that they can take something back
to their community and become part of the
solution,” she says.
ONE PERSON,
MANY ROLES
• Griffith Business
School pro-vice
chancellor’s
nominated equity
champion
• Griffith Business
School diversity and
inclusion committee
member
• Griffith University’s
Reconciliation
Action Plan
champion
• First Peoples
Employment
Working Group
member
• Aboriginal and
Torres Strait
Islander Advisory
Council committee
member
• Indigenous
Accountants
Australia member
and co-chair from
its inception in 2015
CLICK HERE
TO READ
an INTHEBLACK
article on how
accountants
can “show up”
for Indigenous
communities
CLICK TO
LEARN MORE
about
CPA Australia’s
Indigenous
Accountants
Australia network
47
DEC 2022
JAN 2023
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au
