OCBA - Indigenous consumers

Indigenous consumers

The needs of Indigenous communities are unique when it comes to consumer protection.

Geographic isolation, low English literacy levels are lack of competition mean that Aboriginal people living in remote South Australia are particular vulnerable to being exploited by traders and scammers. That's why Consumer and Business Services (CBS) offer extra assistance to help Indigenous people who may have been treated unfairly by traders.

Indigenous people are often targeted people from dodgy telemarketers and door-to-door sellers and used car sales people using high pressure sales tactics to try rip them off.

There are laws to protect people from unfair trading practices. The protections include things like cooling off rights when you buy a second hand car or when you sign up for a door-to-door product you realise you can't afford.

Consumer and Business Services can help you understand your legal rights and obligations and it offers free assistance when it comes to trying to sort out problems with something you bought or signed up for.

CBS also works closely with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and other fair trading bodies to tackle credit issues, housing problems and unfair business practices affecting Aboriginal people wherever they live.

Out of Credit
A DVD has been produced by the National Indigenous Consumer Strategy working group, on behalf of Australia's fair trading agencies, including South Australia's Consumer and Business Services (CBS). The DVD, Out of Credit, targets young Indigenous consumers about the perils associated with mobile phone contracts.

The film is a resource that can be used in association with other educational materials concerning financial literacy and consumer related topics. It stars Aboriginal people and demonstrates good and bad practices, as well as empowering people to better deal with pressure from salespeople and friends or relatives.

If you would like a copy of the DVD to use with your community, you can order it here:
http://www.ocba.sa.gov.au/order_publication.html

Listen to the song from the Out of Credit DVD here.

Out of Credit

National Indigenous Consumer Strategy
Talk about shopping - urban Indigenous version (1.3 MB PDF file)
Talk about shopping - APY Lands version (2.4 MB PDF file)
Media release - Indigenous Consumer Strategy to help disadvantaged (69 KB PDF file)
Aboriginal associations
Door-to-door sales: A guide for consumers (167 KB PDF file)
Iwantja Band perform for CBS
Making a complaint

Useful links:

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) have produced a series of short audio segments for Indigenous people called Money Talks. The series is about making good money decisions and is available on ASIC's MoneySmart website.

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Indigenous consumers

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