02/355 ASIC promotes good practice in consumer education for Indigenous people
Thursday 26 September 2002
Ms Delia Rickard, Deputy Executive Director Consumer Protection of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), today launched the report Good Practice in Consumer Education for Indigenous People.
The purpose of the report, which was prepared for ASIC by Mr Gordon Renouf, is to provide information and ideas that may assist ASIC, as well as other government agencies, community groups and possibly Indigenous organisations and communities, to undertake more effective consumer education.
The report sets out 10 principles of good practice to consider when producing Indigenous-specific consumer education material. It also has a useful catalogue of consumer education projects undertaken in Australia by a variety of organisations for Indigenous people.
‘ASIC hopes the report will promote the sharing of information, and a discussion about good practice in consumer education for Indigenous people’, Ms Rickard said.
The report builds on ASIC's work on Indigenous consumer issues. Earlier this year ASIC launched Book up: Some Consumer Problems, a report also prepared by Mr Gordon Renouf (see ASIC media release 02/77).
ASIC is working with selected Indigenous communities to prepare a kit for Indigenous communities on book up as a follow-on from the report. The kit is designed to provide community leaders with information to help them decide upon the approach they wish to take to book up in their community.
In April this year ASIC, ATSIC, ACCC and Reconciliation Australia co-sponsored a national workshop on Indigenous consumer issues. Papers presented at that workshop are available on ASIC's consumer website www.fido.asic.gov.au.
ASIC is also developing educational material on financial services issues for remote and regional Indigenous communities. The funds for this project have been obtained from successful ASIC enforcement in relation to Combined Insurance Company of Australia (Combined). Combined agreed to fund the preparation of educational material for Indigenous consumers, as part of an enforceable undertaking accepted by ASIC (see ASIC media release 00/485).
‘ASIC's work has revealed surprisingly few projects or existing materials aimed at providing consumer education on financial services for Indigenous people’, Ms Rickard said. ‘While this report applies to consumer education more generally, ASIC intends to use it as a basis for consumer education on financial services for Indigenous communities’.
The good practice principles have been drawn from existing literature, organisations that have worked closely with Indigenous people on a range of consumer education projects, and feedback received on draft principles distributed earlier in the year.
The 10 good practice principles are:
1. Understand the context;
2. Ensure effective community involvement in all stages of the project;
3. Consider partner organisation’s resource limitations;
4. Acknowledge cultural diversity and consumer's existing knowledge;
5. Use appropriate planning and evaluation;
6. Consider consumers' motivation to learn;
7. Engage in dialogue with consumers/two way learning;
8. Use appropriate formats and distribution channels;
9. Promote longer term sustainable activities rather than pilot projects and ad hoc responses; and
10. Contribute to coordination, collaboration and networking.
The report discusses these principles in more detail and provides examples of consumer education initiatives for Indigenous people.
