About Us
Located in Cairns, Yarrabah, Palm Island and Thursday Island in Queensland the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network Ltd (ICAN) provides consumer education, advocacy and financial counselling services to Indigenous consumers across the nation.
Indigenous people living in regional and remote communities are one of the most disadvantaged consumer groups in Australia. A combination of low literacy levels, lack of services and an uncompetitive marketplace leave the population open to financial exploitation.
Data collected by ICAN reveals that Indigenous people often fall prey to unscrupulous used car dealers, finance companies, payday lenders, telemarketers and door-to-door salesmen. ICAN aims to turn this situation around by providing Indigenous consumers with assistance to alleviate consumer detriment, education to make informed consumer choices and advocacy to highlight consumer disadvantage.
ICAN advocates on behalf of Indigenous consumers in the following national forums:
Australian Competition & Consumer Commission – Consumer Consultative Committee
Australian Securities & Investments Commission – Consumer Advisory Panel
National Indigenous Consumer Strategy – Implementation Reference Group
Reconciliation Australia – Indigenous Financial Services Network
Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy – Digital Switchover Taskforce
Awards
2009 – Finalist Queensland Government, Reconciliation Business Awards (Partnership)
2007 – Minister’s Award for Excellence & Consumer Advocacy Award, Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Consumer Protection Awards
2005 – Consumer Advocacy Award, Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Consumer Protection Awards
