National Projects
NICS National Project - Enforcement Guide Review
Under the first NICS Action Plan which ran from 2005-2009, an inaugural National Project was undertaken to develop a resource titled “A guide to enforcement: Indigenous Consumer Matters”. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) jointly managed this project. The resource was intended to be a best practice enforcement guide to help consumer protection agencies deal with Indigenous matters.
The guide has been in existence since 2005, but NICS agencies have agreed to refresh the guide, including developing effective and contemporary presentation of its contents as the National Project under the 2022-23 Action Plan.
NICS member agencies consider that modularising the content contained in the Guide into bite sized video segments with associated learning modules to check understanding of the content contained, would make the guide more accessible to investigatory teams within agencies and would be an effective and engaging way to present the important principles contained in the written guide.
An effective resource that outlines best practice principles in undertaking investigations in Indigenous communities will serve an important role in demystifying how to deal with Indigenous complainants and witnesses and aid enforcement officers in running effective investigations and obtaining the required evidence to achieve successful outcomes in these matters.
Resources
Resources
Resources for Consumers
A listing of consumer agencies publications and resources.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
- ACCC website
- ACCC – Your Rights Mob – Indigenous consumers Facebook page
- FairStore: a best practice guide for stores serving remote and Indigenous communities
- Your consumer rights: Indigenous art and craft
- Unconscionable conduct in the Indigenous art & craft sector
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
- More MoneySmart videos
- ASIC Indigenous website – MoneySmart
- Borrowing and credit resources
- Dealing with book up: key facts
- Super and us mob
- Talking care with ATMs poster (audio clips in English and Indigenous languages)
- Money health check
- Video: Reducing bank fees
- Video: Creating a budget
- Video: Getting a NILS loan
- Moola talk comic
- Paying for Funerals
- Borrowing Money: the Loan shark story
- Mobile Apps for budgeting
- Helping Our Kids Understand Finances
Australian Capital Territory
- Door to Door Trading
- Reality Check – A Real Estate Guide For Buyers And Sellers in The ACT
- The Renting Book – A Guide To Your Rights And Responsibilities As A Tenant Or Property Owner Or Real Estate Agent
- Scam Alerts
- right it-write it – an information guide for consumers in the ACT
- Indigenous consumer guide – an information handbook to help Indigenous people understand their consumer rights
New South Wales
Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia
- Talk about shopping – APY Lands version
- Iwantja Band perform for CBS – YouTube video
Key Documents
Action Plans
- Taking Action Gaining Trust 2017-19 – Action Plan
- Taking Action Gaining Trust 2014-16 – Action Plan
- Taking Action Gaining Trust 2010-13 – Action Plan
- Taking Action Gaining Trust 2005-09 – Final Report
- Taking Action Gaining Trust 2005-09 – Mid Term Report
- Taking Action Gaining Trust 2005-09 – Action Plan Strategy
- Taking Action Gaining Trust – Consultation Paper
About NICS
About NICS
The National Indigenous Consumer Strategy is a strategy developed by consumer agency representatives from all Australian States and Territories, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and an independent member, the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN).
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the current NICS Chair and is assisted by the Queensland Office of Fair Trading as sub-Chair.
The Strategy will focus our efforts in working together to improve outcomes for Indigenous consumers.
Commonwealth, State and Territory consumer agencies are committed to the following strategic directions:
- The promotion of basic consumer rights recognised by the United Nations for Indigenous people in Australia.
- To build knowledge, confidence and awareness for Indigenous people to action their consumer rights.
- To improve access to the services of consumer law regulators.
- Improving market outcomes for Indigenous consumers.
We have developed an Action Plan, available for download here, and are committed to working co-operatively on the issues and actions identified in the plan. We are also committed to regularly reviewing our achievements against the actions and will further develop the plan in light of these achievements.
We recognise that there are many other stakeholders who make significant contributions to improving Australia’s performance regarding Indigenous consumer affairs. We invite stakeholders to adopt and implement the Action Plan.
NICS Home
Welcome
Welcome to the website for the National Indigenous Consumer Strategy (NICS).
Here you will find information about NICS including current action plan, national project and member resources.