Srivastava, Sunila --- "Stirrings: Indigenous Consumers in the Northern Territory" [1998] IndigLawB 39; (1998) 4(11) Indigenous Law Bulletin 17
Indigenous Consumers in the Northern Territory
by Sunila Srivastava
The North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (NAALAS), in Darwin, provides legal aid to thirty-seven aboriginal communities speaking over ten different traditional languages and Kriol. There are over 20,000 indigenous people residing in the Service's catchment area.[1] There are three sections at NAALAS: Civil, Criminal and Family law. One of the areas the Civil Section specialises in is consumer law.
Indigenous consumers encounter numerous difficulties in their dealings with shops and financial institutions. There are a number of reasons for this: lack of access to consumer rights information; the relationship between traditional cultures and the use of money; the isolation of many communities and the dependence on one shop; illiteracy and innumeracy; and a lack of financial advisors and interpreters to explain contracts. These difficulties exist in a historical context of oppression and paternalism.
A fundamental problem for many outback communities is the isolation which they face. Lack of choice is evident, even in many large communities. One typical community, brought to the attention of NAALAS, has one grocery shop, a video shop and a take away shop (which sells fast foods), for a population of approximately 1300 people. Often the proprietors of the only grocery shop in town may also be the owners of other shops.
Given the high degree of dependence on shops in a number of communities, there is a real risk that transactions between store owners and community members will be exploitative. Community members become restricted to purchasing essentials from the local shop, no matter how exorbitant prices are. If they complain about prices or the level of service, they may be expelled from their local shop, and have no place from which to buy groceries. In one particular community, where the local shop is also a post office, a community member complained of exorbitant prices to the shop owner, and was refused her mail for a number of days.
Partly because many remote communities do not have access to a banking service, local shops often provide goods on credit. This system is commonly referred to as a 'book up system'. The practice in book up is that, after goods have been chosen by the purchaser, the shop assistant/owner notes down purchases made and, in theory, the account is then checked by the purchaser. The purchaser then pays off the outstanding balance over a number of weeks. Given the lack of choice, it is very unlikely that a purchaser would refuse to sign the accounts-even where they disagree with the amount stated. In a current case, one of NAALAS' clients is being sued by the proprietor of a store in the outer regions of Darwin. The client has instructed NAALAS that she was never shown the full account, but was constantly asked to sign the bottom of the account book. Our client signed the account because she wanted to continue to purchase from the store.
Often shops which provide credit also charge interest. The purchaser does not appear to be given an opportunity to negotiate the level of interest rate or the manner in which the interest rate will be calculated. NAALAS is currently representing a woman from North West Arnhem who says that she was never told that she was being charged 15% interest per annum for an outstanding balance on a book up account.
Shop owners can also be unscrupulous. NAALAS currently represents two indigenous consumers sued for an outstanding debt by a shop owner, who is notorious for his business practices with customers. NAALAS' clients, who resided in a caravan park owned by the shop owner, have indicated that they were subject to a plethora of unfair tactics and harassment. If they did not make purchases from the shop, power to their caravan would be turned off. They were never shown their account balance. They paid prices double the amount that they would have paid elsewhere. NAALAS' main argument, on behalf of its clients, is that the shop owner should not benefit from his unconscionable conduct and, accordingly, all book up agreements between the parties should be set aside.
Levels of literacy and numeracy vary. Indigenous people may themselves be too ashamed to reveal this to a shop owner or trader. The lack of an interpreter service is a serious obstacle to many indigenous people obtaining financial advice and communication between solicitors and remote communities is difficult. There are no registered interpreters in any Aboriginal language in the Northern Territory, despite over 27% of the population being indigenous. This often leads to a situation where an indigenous person enters into a contract without being fully aware of the legal obligations imposed by the contract. Recently, I was contacted by the Police Credit Union, who sought a solicitor to provide advice on a loan contract to an indigenous man, who was in their Darwin office. The man was from Ramingining, a community in North Arnhem, 900 km from Darwin, spoke no English and had to return to Ramingining that day. Without an interpreter service there was no advice I could give him and had to make arrangements to provide advice in early April, when a family member will also be present Reports of unscrupulous car dealers are common. It is easy for dealers to obtain information as to who has come into money, in tightly knit Aboriginal communities. Reports indicate that car dealers often go on regular selling trips where they sign up consumers on the strength of photographs of the vehicles. In a case NAALAS is currently conducting, its client, from a remote community, purchased a car for $30,000 without seeing it. Two days after the car was delivered to him the police declared the car to be dangerous and unroadworthy.
Many in remote communities do not have access to advice or education on consumer rights. Often indigenous people do not know what questions to ask, when inspecting goods or entering into a contract. Consumer watchdogs like those found in southern states, such as the Australian Consumers Association, are limited. There is no specialist consumer legal service in the Northern Territory. Anglicare Financial Counselling Services, which also provides community education, is limited to Darwin, Katherine and several remote communities surrounding Katherine. Remote Communities to the north of Katherine are not serviced. The Northern Territory office of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading provides community education to remote communities, in response to specific requests from them. They have a toll free number. However, once again, knowledge of the toll free number usually comes about after a community has taken initiative and contacted the Department.
There are a number of difficulties in pursuing rogue traders. Furthermore, clients find the lag time between initiating proceedings and obtaining relief frustrating and often decide not to continue with proceedings. NAALAS is hoping that, by running successful cases, we can highlight concerns to both indigenous and non indigenous people and name traders that should be avoided. Our aim, in the long run, is to effectively establish indigenous consumers as a vocal and assertive interest group.
Sunila Srivastava is a Solicitor at the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (NAALAS), Darwin.
[1] 1996 Census of population and housing-Northern Territory.