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Associate Professor Prafula Pearce

Associate Professor of Law

Staff Member Details
Telephone: +61 8 6304 6167
Email: p.pearce@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Joondalup  
Room: JO2.318  
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3072-7406

Prafula Pearce is an Associate Professor in Law, a member of the Research and Research Training Committee, and ECU Tax Clinic Coordinator in the School of Business and Law.

Key Research Areas

  • Tax law

Biography

Associate Professor Prafula Pearce has over 30 years of experience that includes academic and commercial:

  • Academic experience from Curtin Law and Curtin Business School for 25 years where she also obtained leadership experience, having served as Academic Discipline Lead and the Deputy Dean of Curtin Law School.
  • Commercial experience from London and Perth, having worked in large commercial organisations such as Cadbury Schweppes London, Bond Corporation and Deloitte in Perth.

Prafula’s qualifications in both law and accounting brings unique perspective on commercial, legal and taxation issues. She is a fellow of CPA Australia, the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants in England and Wales, Chartered Tax Adviser and has also attained the Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws and a PhD.

Prafula’s research is mainly in the area of law, policy and taxation. Since the attainment of her PhD in 2012, her research focus has been in the area of tax and regulatory measures to promote sustainable energy use.  She has published widely in highly ranked national and international journals, made submissions to Federal Government inquiries to influence policies and liaised with the community and professional associations.

Prafula also has a wealth of supervision experience of PhD students in research areas that are of international importance and have the potential to make a difference to global policies and an impact on human lives and economic circumstances.She has been a member of various executive and research committees at Curtin University where she actively participated and advised on academic, management and research issues.

Theme Three: Natural and Built Environments; Sustainability of energy, water, materials and resources.

  • 2001 - Nomination for Excellence in Teaching, Curtin Student Guild.
  • 2002 - Grant to conduct research on The Hidden Costs of the Superannuation Surcharge Tax, Australian Tax Research Foundation.
  • 2016 - Grant to conduct research on Building Better Assessment Practice in Company Law for Business to Resolve Academic Integrity  Issues for Large Environment, Curtin University, Teaching Excellence Development fund.
  • CPA Australia, Fellow member
  • Chartered Association of Certified Accountants – England and Wales, Fellow member
  • Taxation Institute of Australia, Chartered Tax Adviser and Fellow member
  • Australasian Tax Teachers Association, Member
  • Australasian Law Academics Association, Member
  • Gujarati
  • Swahili

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Curtin University of Technology, 2013.
  • Master of Laws, The University of Western Australia, 1999.
  • Bachelor of Arts in Law, United Kingdom, 1983.

Research Outputs

Book Chapters

  • Tay, V., Pearce, P. (2024). Laws and Policies to Prevent Cyberbullying in High Schools - Lessons for India and Western Australia. Comparative Law: Unravelling Global Legal Systems (55-71). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-7815-7_4.

Book Chapters

  • Ali, MZ., Pearce, P. (2023). Maran Shipping: A Ray of Hope in a Darkening Landscape for Inter-state Civil Actions - Forum Non-conveniens Versus Duty of Care. Comparative Approaches in Law and Policy (189-201). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4460-6_11.

Journal Articles

  • Anthony Das, C., Pearce, P., Henson, T. (2023). What's green and ethical about greenwashing in the promotion of financial products. New Zealand Law Journal, 2023(December 2023), 400-405.

Book Chapters

  • Ali, Z., Pearce, P. (2022). Comparative Analysis of Shipbreaking Laws and Regulations in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh: Implications on Human Tragedy and Compensation to the Victims. Comparative Law Facets, Nuances and Intricacies (17-42). Thomson Reuters, Legal.
  • Naser, M., Pearce, P. (2022). Evolution of the International Climate Change Policy and Processes: UNFCCC to Paris Agreement. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science (1-25). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.422.

Journal Articles

Journal Articles

  • Pearce, P. (2021). Duty to Address Climate Change Litigation Risks for Australian Energy Companies - Policy and Governance Issues. Energies, 14(23), Article number 7838. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14237838.

Journal Articles

Journal Articles

  • Pearce, P., Pinto, D. (2019). Goods and Services Tax (GST) implications of ecommerce and goods warehousing. Tax Specialist, 22(3), 159-163.
  • Ali, Z., Pearce, P. (2019). Effectiveness of the Hong Kong Convention on Ship Recycling in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Curtin Law and Taxation Review, V(2019), 69-87.
  • Wijaya, M., Pearce, P., Moens, G. (2019). Reforming Bureaucracy in Indonesia: The Legal Challenges of Reorganisation. International Trade and Business Law Review, XXII(2019), 229-246.
  • Pearce, P., Pinto, D. (2019). E-Commerce and the Taxation implications of Goods Warehousing in Australia. New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law and Policy, 25(4), 351-364.

Journal Articles

  • Pearce, P., Pinto, D. (2018). Consumer Law Implications of Ecommerce and Goods Warehousing. Journal of the Australasian Law Teachers Association, 11(2018), 15-23.

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

  • Pearce, P. (2016). Protecting Australian gas resource and the need to reserve and promote the use of natural gas for Australian industries. Green Fiscal Reform for a Sustainable Future (169-183). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786431196.00022.

Journal Articles

  • Pearce, P., Johnston, V. (2016). A new fast lane or just a roadblock? Mitigating road transport GHG emissions under Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund. Environmental and Planning Law Journal, 33(3), 181-202.

Journal Articles

  • Hodgson, H., Pearce, P. (2015). TravelSmart or travel tax free breaks: Is the fringe benefits tax a barrier to active commuting in Australia. eJournal of Tax Research, 13(3), 819-839.
  • Pearce, P., Pinto, D. (2015). An evaluation of the case for a congestion tax in Australia. Tax Specialist, 18(4), 146-153.
  • Pearce, P., Johnston, V. (2015). Emissions reduction fund: is your client in or out?. Australian Tax Law Bulletin, 2(June 2015), 90-95.
  • Pearce, P., Hodgson, H. (2015). Promoting smart travel through tax policy. Tax Specialist, 19(1), 2-8.

Research Projects

  • Cyber Security in Australia: an economic or national security concern?, Cyber Security Research Centre Ltd, Cyber Security Research Centre Masters Scholarship, 2021 ‑ 2023, $70,000.

Research Student Supervision

Principal Supervisor

  • Master of Laws (Research), Comparing Western Australia and South Australia Public High School's Cyberbullying Policies - Is there a need for a legislative change
  • Doctor of Philosophy: Reforming Indonesian Government Bureaucracy: Political and Statutory Challenges
  • Master of Laws (Research), A Review of the Legal Framework for the Protection of Victims of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Agriculture in Ghana: A Human Rights Based Approach

Co-principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy: The tax morale of individual taxpayers in Indonesia
  • Doctor of Philosophy: The role of effective administration in encouraging greater compliance with taxation
  • Doctor of Philosophy: Determinants of effective tax investigations in Malaysia from the tax authority's perspective
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