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ICAN’s Carmen Daniels, Jon O’Mally and Aaron Davis touched down in Toronto the day after the city’s basketball team, the Toronto Raptors, made history by becoming the first Canadian team to ever win the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championships. The city’s vibrant mood associated with the victory set the tone for what would become a frenetic first week on ICAN’s Canadian ‘Community Economic Development (CED)’ study tour. Sponsorship from the Ian Potter Foundation has provided ICAN’s program development team the opportunity to learn about the incorporation of CED principles from Canada’s premiere financial empowerment organisations and programs.

ICAN CEO, Aaron Davis believes the incorporation of CED program principles are the next stage in the development of the organisations Yarnin’ Money financial literacy program. “Through the delivery of Yarnin’ Money in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities we’ve identified that there is a real need for the incorporation of financial coaching in job services and sole trader/small business development”, said Mr Davis. “Basically, we want to take our Canadian CED learnings and adapt them to an Australian context and in turn add value to existing job service and small business development agencies.”

ICAN Research and Communications Lead, Carmen Daniels’s extensive planning and coordination of the study tour provided meeting, workshop and presentation opportunities with Prosper Canada, WoodGreen Community Services , Sustainable Livelihoods and York University over the tour’s first week. “Canada’s lead financial empowerment policy and program organisation, Prosper, was the perfect organisation to start with, as they could provide a national overview of the sectors existing programs and strategic direction,” said Mrs Daniels. “I’d really like to thank Prosper Canada’s Adam Fair and York Universities, Professor Chris Robinson for organising invaluable opportunities to learn from frontline service organisations and client behavioural economics/empowerment thought leaders.”   

Reflecting on the learnings and information sharing so far, ICAN Operations Manager, Jon O’Mally said, “I could really see the application of our learnings on Asset Mapping, Janet Murray (Sustainable Livelihoods) and Behavioural Change Frameworks to Financial Empowerment’s, Ayesha Umme-Jihad/Phillippe Raphael in building the scope of financial capability work and service delivery continuous improvement processes in Australia. It has also been really great to share information about Australia’s financial counselling and consumer advocacy space, as there has been great interest in the scope of our practice and consumer regulatory frameworks.” 

ICAN’s program development team are looking forward to re-connecting with Professor Jerry Buckland and Canada’s lead CED/Financial Empowerment organisations SEED and Momentum in the upcoming Winnipeg and Calgary legs of the tour. Watch this space for part two of ICAN’s Canadian Study Odyssey.

Teamwork delivers results for the Palm Island Class Action Settlement Scheme

Some very nervous financial service providers from the mainland boarded a light plane to beautiful Palm Island on 3^rdApril, for ICAN’s first ‘Yarnin’ Money Day’.  The event, organised by ICAN Financial Counsellor, Conrad Dwyer, was to provide financial assistance to recipients of the $30M Palm Island Class Action Settlement Scheme.  Thanks to the commitment and support of our project partners, the day was a huge success, with information, education and advocacy provided to over 120 community members on the day.

“As part of the court judgement, ICAN, as the lead agency, was asked to deliver extended financial counselling services for the Palm Island Class Action Settlement Scheme” explained Conrad. “It was a great opportunity for all of the agencies to embrace the entire community of Palm by offering support services to both claimants and non-claimants alike, and addressing financial issues common to everyone on the Island.”

One Stop Shop

The day was a huge success thanks to the support of ICAN’s interagency support partners, including Good Money Cairns, CBA, Legal Aid Qld, Many Rivers, ACCC, OFT, Centacare and the Palm Island Justice Group.

Advice was available across a variety of services, including the effects of settlement payments on Centrelink payments and Medicare, assistance with will preparation, superannuation, No Interest Loans, start up business support, and free legal advice, to name a few.

For ICAN Financial Counsellors Unaisi Buli and Carmen Hegarty, it was their first visit to Palm Island.

“I was so excited to be part of this event on Palm Island,” said Unaisi.  “Being located under one roof with our project partners allowed us to make instant referrals, which was too deadly! Whether someone needed a JP to certify documents, apply for a NILS loan, or review their CBA account setup, we were all there as a one stop shop.  It was great to see many family groups there too, which helps get the word out about what help is available, and how to avoid being scammed.”

Family Connections

For Carmen Hegarty, the visit to Palm had extra special meaning, as her great grandfather is a Traditional Owner of Palm Island, a descendant of the Wulgurukaba people (meaning “canoe people”).

“I had a fantastic time networking and getting to know the people of Palm Island.  As always, I tend to meet family along the way, so I was more than pleased to be on Country!  It was awesome to bring agencies directly onto Palm, especially as some people may not have the funds to leave the Island to access the services they need or even be aware they exist at all. The variety of services available on the day helped not only inform the settlement claimants about their options but helped the entire Palm Island community.”

Carmen continued “although it can be intimidating at first for the community to see us all there, as soon as you tell them who you are – your grounding and history – you are accepted immediately.  And humour is a great tool in breaking down barriers.  It’s important to get to know people first, then you can talk money business.”

For Conrad, events like this are not just about the day; it’s about the positive after effects that can change a community.  “The community really felt supported by all of the agencies that attended – I had 35 missed calls the next day!  The flow on effect is that that people tell family and friends which not only increases the demand for services but increases financial literacy within the community.”

“I am so appreciative of all the support given by our interagency partners who made this such a great day, and particularly the support received from the Palm Island Regional Council, PICC Justice Group, ATSI Women’s Legal Service and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, in helping the event and the free BBQ run smoothly. We plan on making the next event even bigger and better!”

The last word goes to Samantha Cooper from Legal Aid Qld, in recognising the incredible work done by Conrad in organising this great event.  “I was really impressed with the trust ICAN have built within the community, they all spoke very highly of you. It’s a credit to the organisation, and in particular to Conrad, that you have their respect and their confidence. Thank you for the opportunity to witness that”.

As 2018 draws to a close, we reflect on how ICAN has carried out our mission of Empowering Indigenous Consumers, over the last twelve months…

2018 was the year that saw ICAN Learn take its first real steps as a social enterprise and Registered Training Organisation (RTO). ICAN’s vision of contributing to the professionalisation of the financial counselling and capability sector was realised with delivery of five concurrent Diploma of Financial Counselling courses in Cairns, Melbourne and Bendigo. This achievement is a testament to our vision and long-standing partnerships, celebrated over the past ten years of incorporation.

At the onset of 2018, ICAN and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia expanded the model of our Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship Program, to deliver a pilot Multicultural Scholarship Program in Melbourne, providing 12 fully funded scholarships to persons working in multicultural communities seeking to become qualified financial counsellors. This course was publicised and created in liaison with multi-cultural organisations in Melbourne. Lead lecturer Robyn Shepherd-Murdoch reported that financial counselling agencies in Victoria are now requesting student placements from ICAN Learn, due to the high-quality residencies provided through our 220-hour work placement program, an integral part of our Diploma of Financial Counselling.

In March, ICAN was officially welcomed into the FIAP program as one of 30 ‘trailblazer’ organisations committed to tackling financial exclusion. The Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) is led by Good Shepherd Microfinance on behalf of the Australian Government, in partnership with Ernst & Young and the Centre for Social Impact. At a local level ICAN is working with Good Shepherd Microfinance’s Good Money Store in Cairns, to re-introduce the No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS) in Yarrabah/Palm Island and provide support financial counselling services to clients unable to access Good Money products.

In April, ICAN was invited to present at the ABLE Financial Empowerment Conference in Vancouver, Canada, where ICAN Co-founder Carmen Daniels presented on ICAN’s innovative financial inclusion initiatives such as our Do Not Knock Informed campaigns under the North Queensland Indigenous Consumer Taskforce and our Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship Program. Additionally, Yarnin’ Money was highlighted at the ABLE Conference as a best practice initiative in Indigenous financial literacy when Eddie Buli, Business and Sector Development Officer was a panel speaker at the conference’s Indigenous Financial Wellness Panel. The Yarnin’ Money methodology was well received by financial empowerment educators in Canada, who were keen to learn more about the program. The program, developed with funding from Financial Literacy Australia, now compliments ICAN’s state and federally-funded ICAN financial resilience and wellbeing programs, from Townsville to the Torres Strait Islands. The program has also been utilised by our corporate partner, the Commonwealth Bank, and has been delivered to their community partners in Sydney, La Perouse and the Kimberley.

In May, ICAN advocated on the potential financial impacts of the Palm Island $30M settlement scheme. The settlement addressed the racially discriminative Queensland police response to the 2004 Palm Island riots which left many in the community traumatised. After lengthy discussion with the settlement scheme administrator and the preparation of an affidavit, Justice Murphy ordered that a ‘payment for financial counselling’ be made under the Palm Island Class Action Settlement Scheme to support people receiving the funds.

The judgement set a precedent for financial counselling agencies such as ICAN to be explicitly recognised in court ordered compensation or settlement schemes. ICAN has since established a working group/committee like the NQ Indigenous Consumer Taskforce to ensure Palm Islanders have access to information and services that will help them make positive financial decisions on receipt of settlement monies. Membership to the Palm Island working group includes the Department of Human Services (DHS), Indigenous Business Australia (IBA), Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Queensland Department of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Policy (DATSIP), Legal Aid Queensland, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the Queensland Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and settlement administrators, Levitt-Robinson lawyers.

In July, ICAN joined forces with the First Nations Foundation to deliver Big Super Day Out events in Cairns and Palm Island. The Big Super Day Out brings superannuation funds, the Australian Tax Office, the Department of Human Services (Centrelink), the ASIC Indigenous Outreach Program and community partners like ICAN together to provide a one stop superannuation shop on the day. To date, Big Super Day Out events have reunited $14.5M of lost superannuation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fund holders.

In September, ICAN Learn hosted EnergyAustralia and state financial counselling peak body leaders from Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland at a workshop in Cairns. The purpose of the workshop was to create a wide-ranging training and professional development plan for the sector. The resulting plan formed the basis of a $1.2M, three-year investment by EnergyAustralia for the continued professionalisation of financial counselling.

The partnership will deliver an educator scholarship program, Diploma of Financial Counselling scholarship programs, accredited Professional Supervision/Mentor scholarship programs and an Advanced Diploma of Financial Counselling scholarship program in participating states. With EnergyAustralia’s sector commitment and the Commonwealth Bank’s continued support in increasing the representation of Indigenous and multicultural financial counsellors and capability workers, ICAN Learn is in a great position to both grow and create a big impact over the next three years.

ICAN and Tableland Community NILS also joined forces to tackle financial exclusion throughout the Tablelands region by combining organisational expertise and programs. Upon receiving funding from the Queensland Government’s Financial Inclusion Program, ICAN sought collective impact opportunities for place-based service delivery in the Tablelands, Cape York and Torres Strait. Tablelands Community NILS Manager Anne-Maree Molloy is currently completing her Diploma of Financial Counselling with ICAN Learn and is receiving case support from ICAN’s financial counselling and capability team, effectively becoming the first place-based financial counselling service in the Tablelands Region.

Indigenous consumer advocacy is an enduring priority for ICAN, best exemplified in our thirteen years as an independent member to the National Indigenous Consumer Strategy (NICS) reference group. The NICS reference group comprises all state and national consumer regulatory bodies and sets tri-annual action plans to deliver better consumer outcomes for Indigenous consumers. The annual NICS consumer law conference was held in an Indigenous community for the first time this year, on Gunggandji country, Yarrabah.

At a local level, ICAN both established and administrates the NQ Indigenous Consumer Taskforce, a grass roots initiative involving the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Queensland Office of Fair Trading (OFT), Energy and Water Ombudsman of Queensland (EWOQ) and selected community service providers to promote collective impact opportunities. The Do-Not-Knock Informed Community initiative is a great example of what can be achieved through joint action, with Wujal Wujal, Yarrabah, Hopevale, Palm Island and Woorabinda now signed on as participating communities.

We also celebrate some of our administrative achievements in 2018, when ICAN received its Human Services Quality Framework (HSQF) certification and ICAN Learn passed its first Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) audit as a registered training organisation, with resoundingly positive feedback from students!

Thank you for following ICAN in 2018 and we look forward to seeing you in 2019!

ICAN is excited to announce our ground breaking new partnership with the Ian Potter Foundation to explore the integration of Canadian Community Economic Development (CED) principles into our successful Yarnin’ Money financial capability program. Highlighting ICAN’s excitement, CEO, Aaron Davis said, “Receiving an Ian Potter Foundation grant is like winning an organisational excellence award, to even get past the initial concept stage is a big deal, they really take philanthropy seriously.”

The project builds on a two year friendship with Professor Jerry Buckland from the Canadian University of Winnipeg. Professor Buckland visited Cairns as part of an international study tour of Australia and New Zealand, exploring developments in Financial Inclusion in late 2016. With the help of Professor Buckland, both ICAN’s CEO, Aaron Davis, and Research/Communications Manager, Carmen Daniels, visited key Community Economic Development organisations and universities in Calgary and Winnipeg on an information sharing mission the following year.

As a result of this trip, Carmen Daniels and Yarnin’ Money Coordinator, Eddie Buli, were invited to Vancouver, Canada, to present at, and participate in the ABLE Financial Empowerment conference, hosted by Prosper Canada. The conference, held at the Radisson Richmond Hotel on May 8th & 9th 2018, brought together Canadian practitioners, academics and government agencies with an interest in financial empowerment, research and working in diverse communities.

The team was very excited to present the Yarnin’ Money program and to share best practice in financial capability with practitioners from Canada. The conference theme, “Financial well-being for all”, allowed ICAN to learn about innovative financial empowerment initiatives being delivered across Canada and the United States. One area of interest for the ICAN team was the inclusion of Community Economic Development principles in their financial literacy and capability activities.

This interest led ICAN to submit a proposal to the Ian Potter Foundation to build on the Yarnin’ Money brand to develop a Yarnin’ Business and Yarnin’ Jobs program, with learnings from key Canadian Community Economic Development organisations, Momentum (Calgary), SEED (Winnipeg) and Prosper Canada (Toronto). The Ian Potter Foundation board accepted ICAN’s proposal in December 2018.

“If you visualise a three circled Venn diagram, the juncture between the government, corporate and community sectors is where true Community Economic Development lies,” said Mr. Davis. “Each sector can add so much value to the other when we all work together in the best interests of the communities we serve.”

ICAN is planning a study tour to Canada in April/May 2019 to visit Professor Buckland and key Community Economic Development organisations, Momentum, SEED and Prosper Canada. It is expected that learnings from the tour will inform the development of our Yarnin’ Business and Yarnin’ Jobs financial capability programs. “We’re really excited about learning how we can influence the income generation side of the budgetary equation”, said Mr. Davis. “Looking at expenses can only do so much when you’re living on the poverty line.”

Wujal Wujal has noticed a significant change from just over two years of becoming Australia’s first Do-Not-Knock informed community. Desmond Tayley, Wujal Wujal Shire Council Mayor said, “We have witnessed a noticeable reduction in shonky traders selling goods door-to-door in our community, the town signs coupled with greater awareness around consumer rights has really made a difference.” Unfortunately like any other town, door-to-door trading is just one of many consumer/financial issues that needs to be addressed.

ICAN’s Yarnin’ Money outreach team recently liaised with Wujal Wujal Council to section off three days in November for financial literacy training of community members and service providers backed by access to our financial counselling services and North Queensland Indigenous Consumer Taskforce partners the Queensland Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Speaking on the events coordination, Yarnin’ Money’s Eddie Buli said, “I’d like to give a big shout out to Michael Hoare from the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council for coordinating training participants and financial counselling clients, he really maximised our time there.”

On the first day the Yarnin’ Money team held a Service Providers training session with eight local community workers from the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council, My Pathways, Jabalbina Rangers, Community Care and Wujal Wujal Justice Group. “Participant feedback highlighted that the yarnin’ nature of the program was a hit combined with the discussion on referral pathways to financial counselling and access to the Money Smart budgeting tool,” said Mr. Buli. “One participant said the concept of looking at putting money aside for saving as just paying another bill, really rang true to them.”

The second day was set aside for a Community Council meeting under the Mango Trees, where the Queensland OFT, ACCC and Apunipima Cape York Health Council set up information stalls and made short community presentations with ICAN at the meeting. The Highlight of the event was when ICAN’s Eddie Buli and OFT’s Terry Brodin, buttered 16 loaves of bread and smashed out 200 sausages, 50 hamburger patties and sliced 40 onions on the BBQ, to compliment the buns, salad and fruit platters provided by the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Shire Council. Definitely a great way to get the meeting started.

On the third day the Yarnin’ Money team held a ‘With the Mob’ session with 13 My Pathway participants and 1 staff member. “Feedback from the participants suggested that they really appreciated learning about budgeting and the potential of saving money,” said Mr. Buli. “Our Financial Counsellor, Unaisi Buli had 9 appointments during the three day visit, with most referrals coming from participants of the Yarnin’ Money training sessions and Wujal Wujal Shire Council’s pre-organised clients.”

ICAN’s up and coming financial counsellor and capability worker Carmen Hegarty talked about her highlight, summing up what the trip was all about. “WOW what a week, I had great a one-on-one with a couple who needed budgeting skills, I walked them through the Money Smart budget tool that we use, we looked at their combined income and then I asked them both to be totally honest about where they spend their money, “ said Ms. Hegarty. “They were really happy to go through that process and said they walked away being able to see the light at the end of their debt tunnel.”

The North Queensland Indigenous Consumer Taskforce is set to meet again in December and plan more community engagement activities for 2019.

In the 2018 May ICAN E-news, we reported on the potential financial impacts of the Palm Island apology’s $30 M settlement scheme. The settlement addressed the racially discriminative Queensland police response to the 2004 Palm Island riots which left many in the community traumatised. Since the; “$30M Palm Island settlement creates new challenges” E-news article was published, Justice Murphy ordered that a ‘payment for financial counselling’ be made under the Palm Island Class Action Settlement Scheme to support people receiving the funds.

The judgement set a precedent for financial counselling agencies like the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network Ltd (ICAN) to be explicitly recognised in court ordered compensation or settlement schemes. Speaking on how the court order eventuated, ICAN CEO, Aaron Davis said, “We consulted with the class action law firm and scheme administrator, Levitt Robinson and developed an action plan that addressed issues identified; and that plan was eventually submitted to the court as an affidavit.”

Highlighting a major concern, ICAN Financial Counsellor, Conrad Dwyer said, “We were extremely worried about the potential for the Department of Human Service’s (DHS) ‘Centrelink’ to view the settlement scheme payment as income, resulting in a loss of social security income for a time dependent on the settlement amount and possibly creating a feast/famine scenario of mass proportion.”

“When the concern was put to our DHS contacts, we were told that that the income payments were exempt from the income test in this case”, said Mr Dwyer. “This relief  however came with a proviso that any ongoing income generated by the lump sum would be counted under the income test, and any assessable asset, counted under the social security assets test.”

“ICAN identified early on that DHS would be a key partner in the settlement schemes implementation and made contact to discuss setting up a cross-sectoral team to address any issues arising from the settlement,” said Mr. Davis. “We’ve also commenced planning discussions with the Palm Island Council, Commonwealth Bank, QLD Public Trustee and NQ Indigenous Consumer Taskforce members and will hold a network meeting in the coming months.”

Speaking on ICAN’s extra service provision throughout the duration of the settlement scheme, ICAN Operations Manager Jon O’Mally said, “We are going to extend our one day a week Palm Island financial counselling service delivery to 2.5 days. Our financial literacy program, “Yarnin’ Money” will visit the island six times and we will co-ordinate two community BBQ events throughout the year with project partners, providing access to complimentary services.”

“At the end of the day, we want to assist people in exploring all their financial options, so they can make informed consumer choices,” said Mr. O’Mally.

By Carmen Daniels, Researcher &
Eddie Buli, Business & Sector Development Officer

Earlier this month, ICAN was invited to Vancouver, Canada, to participate in the ABLE Financial Empowerment conference, hosted by Prosper Canada. The conference, held at the Radisson Richmond Hotel on May 8^th & 9^th, brought together Canadian practitioners, academics and government agencies with an interest in financial empowerment, research and working in diverse communities. The team was very excited to present on the Yarnin’ Money program and to share best practice in financial capability with practitioners from Canada. The conference theme: “Financial well-being for all” allowed us to learn about innovative financial empowerment initiatives being delivered across Canada and the United States.

Elder Kwes Kwestin (Jim Kew) provided the Opening Welcome to the 300+ delegates, on behalf of the Musqueam Nation. To be greeted, have his blessing for all of us to conduct our business on Musqueam country and to hear his story can’t be explained to what it did to my heart and spirit that day. As an Indigenous person from Australia and first-time visitor to Canada, the welcome set the scene and provided strength for me.

Our highlights from the conference included the sessions on Resources for working with Indigenous Peoples and Applying the behaviour change framework to financial empowerment.

I attended the Resources for working with Indigenous Peoples session, delivered by Nene Kraneveldt, which was of great interest for me due to my role at ICAN. Nene brought her years of knowledge and experience to share with those that attended that day and it showed through her own deadly* facilitation style. Besides her style of presenting and engaging, one of her several activities was utilising cards similar to the photo narrative in the Yarnin’ Money training to create a rapport and trust. Nene laid out many of the resources: manuals, documents and books of relevance to read, in a circle and asked the participants to take pics via there mobiles of what materials were of interest to them which created discussions amongst the group.

I attended the session Applying the behaviour change framework to financial empowerment, delivered by Prosper Canada researcher/evaluation officers Philippe Raphael and Ayesha Umme-Jihad. In this workshop, we applied Behavioural Economics principles (in the form of playing cards) to a matrix (developed by Philippe and Ayesha), in order to understand how we can affect behaviour change. The session has so much practical application to the work we do at ICAN and gave me insight into how to create behavioural change within our programs and for the people we work with, by applying behavioural economics principles.

ICAN was invited to speak in two conference sessions: the Indigenous financial wellness: a wholistic framework panel on Tuesday, May 8^th and a panel discussing Bold visions for building financial well-being for all, near the close of the conference on Wednesday, May 9^th.

As a speaker on the Indigenous financial wellness panel, it was a great opportunity to be able to share our learnings, outcomes and challenges thus far in delivering Yarnin’ Money – ICAN’s financial literacy outreach program – to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia. I was humbled to have many delegates give feedback back and compliments on how much they enjoyed my presentation. A delegate from Winnipeg has since contacted us, expressing that she loved the photo narrative activity that I deliver in the Yarnin’ Money training, which I described in my presentation. She said that when she returned home to Winnipeg after the conference, she presented the concept to her organisation and they are now going to create their own Photo Narrative activity for their own financial literacy training.

In my presentation, I shared some of the innovative financial capability initiatives occuring in Australia. We have a very different social security system than Canada and so our local and systems responses in financial inclusion are somewhat unique to Australia. I discussed some of the pathways to Indigenous financial empowerment that ICAN strives towards, including our North Queensland Indigenous Consumer Taskforce, the Do Not Knock-Informed campaigns in remote communities and ICAN’s Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship Program, which delivers training through the Diploma of Financial Counselling, for both Indigenous peoples and people working with multicultural communities. It was an amazing experience to hear from the other panellists – Aliza Gutman (Centre for Financial Services Innovation – CFSI), and Hannah Moffatt (Winnipeg Regional Health Authority), who spoke on the case for financial institutions to focus on financial health and the connection between financial wellbeing and health (social determinants of health).

“We were truly honoured to have both Carmen and Eddie join us at the 2018 ABLE Financial Empowerment Conference,” said Adam Fair, VP, Strategy & Impact at Prosper Canada and head of Conference. “Their experience and wisdom in helping to build the financial wellbeing of indigenous peoples in Australia was inspiring and helped to show what more can be done to support our communities in Canada. We look forward to continuing to find ways to learn and share from each other into the future.”

I am extremely grateful to have been able to attend the ABLE Conference in Vancouver. It was a great experience to hear what is happening in Canada, regarding financial and consumer issues, the different organisations and programs similar to ours, working towards improving the financial well-being of people experiencing low incomes and vulnerabilities. Networking with the conference delegates provided me a better understanding of the similarities and differences of our communities who are facing financial hardship, the social issues, access to support, demographics of service areas and their government systems.

For our team, it was a privilege to learn about what’s happening in the Canadian financial empowerment sector and to share our experiences of working in the Australian financial counselling and capability space. We are very grateful to Prosper Canada and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for their support to ICAN to attend the ABLE Financial Empowerment Conference, and we look forward to continuing the financial empowerment conversation between our organisations located in Australia and Canada!

The 2018 ABLE Financial Empowerment conference was hosted by the ABLE Steering Committee through the support of Prosper Canada and Family Services of Greater Vancouver.**

*The word “deadly to Aboriginal people means excellent/amazing/really good”
See: https://www.welcometocountry.org/26-aboriginal-words-australians-should-know/
**Source: https://ablefinancialempowerment.org/2018-able-conference/

Last week, ICAN staff joined twenty-seven service providers from across the Cairns and Townsville regions, in a two-day family violence training workshop, delivered by Financial Counselling Australia (FCA). The workshop, part of a national training program developed by FCA, provides tools for financial counsellors and capability workers to better assist people impacted by domestic and family violence, including victims and survivors of domestic family violence (DFV), as well as perpetrators.

The training provides an overview of family violence, including its many forms (eg physical, sexual, economic, technological, social), the size of the problem and its causes. “Our sector has of course always seen clients affected by family violence, but we’ve never had comprehensive training about it before,” said Fiona Guthrie, Executive Director of Financial Counselling Australia, who delivers the training to the financial counselling and capability sector.

“We talk about what family violence means in a financial counselling/capability context and how we may need to both reinforce and adapt our model of service delivery to use a trauma-informed approach,” she said.

“We spend a lot of time reinforcing our existing counselling skill set as well as new skills in asking about and naming family violence. We also talk about unconscious bias and how that impacts on our work. And of course, we need some specific skills: making sure our clients are safe, understanding the laws that apply in relation to relationship debt and the interaction of family violence on tenancy law,” Fiona explained.

ICAN staff noted how the training provided a demonstrated link between financial counselling and domestic violence issues that can arise in our casework. “It was a fantastic workshop that provided appropriate knowledge for financial counsellors, particularly in regard to debt issues, legal impacts and options for victims of family violence. Some great resources were made available, such as the Financial Safety Checklist, that will certainly help in our work with future clients and improving our service,” said Conrad Dwyer, Financial Counsellor at the ICAN Cairns office.

Staff commented on the prevalence of family violence, and how the training provided context for viewing it as a big picture issue to be addressed. “For me, Domestic and Family Violence can’t be boxed by where you live, how much you earn, your age, your gender, your family heritage, the influence of drugs or alcohol, as it’s an unacceptable act that doesn’t discriminate,” said Eddie Buli, Business and Sector Development Officer and Yarnin’ Money Trainer. “As individuals and as a global society, if we ignore domestic and family violence, accept Domestic and Family Violence as normal, make excuses for it and justify it. Then we to are at fault for the increase of the domestic and family violence statistics,” he said.

For Carmen Hegarty, Yarnin’ Money Trainer, the information provided reflected a broader awareness of the issue. “The information provided by the lecturers shows to me that society in general are aware and doing something on a much larger scale,” she said.

Staff noted the respectful nature of the trainers – in dealing with a sensitive subject that impacts upon so many members of society and discussed the ability of the trainers to create a safe environment for participants. “As this was my first FCA Family Violence training, I was apprehensive. The reason being that I came from a very violent home, growing up in this environment until I was 15 years of age. So, I was not sure what to expect of the training, or what was expected of me!” said Carmen Hegarty. “But as it turned out, I felt very safe within myself and comfortable with the rest of the group who attended. The second day I did less overthinking and enjoyed the program.”

Carmen noted the respectful nature of the trainers, and their ability to handle the sensitive subject with care. “The whole experience on such a touchy subject was conducted with empathy, and respect for those who may have been in this situation and passing on this useful information for those who are still in this situation,” she said.

“I found the training to be a fulfilling one,” said Unaisi Buli, Senior Financial Counsellor. “I really enjoyed the discussions, getting other people’s points of views on those who have worked in the sector around Family Violence. I’ve learnt a lot around understanding family violence, red flags to watch out for and using the FIDO approach when dealing with clients with Family Violence. It also opened my eyes to think about the issues behind the perpetrator,” she said.

Staff spoke of their highlights from the two-day workshop as: Day 2 on Relationship debt, joint debts and financial hardship. Kat Lane (trainer) was mentioned as a highlight for one staff, for tackling common legal problems and what laws apply, and staff really enjoyed the interactive nature of the training. “What was so different about this training than most others, was that we were always moving!” Unaisi commented. “We were never sitting down for very long, which kept us active and more focused!”

“Despite being a second-time participant, the Domestic and Family Violence training still resonated memories and emotions of my childhood days,” said Eddie. “The Domestic and Family Violence created awareness, discussions and provided tools for the participants to play our part as Financial Counsellors and Financial Capability workers towards assisting, supporting and addressing our clients financial/consumer issues. The training also re-enforced current and new referral pathways for our clients that are in a Domestic and Family Violence situation,” he said.

For ICAN staff, the training has been timely, as we’ve experienced an increase in DFV-related financial counselling issues coming through our doors. “I found the training to be extremely relevant and informative. The presenters were very entertaining and knowledgeable so could handle everyone’s questions and insights well,” said Martina Kingi, Financial Counsellor at the ICAN Townsville office. “Overall a great 2-day professional development training! I enjoyed the work group sessions the most!” she said.

“Highly recommend to other financial counsellors and capability workers, as it is a holistic course that not only discusses the trauma and consequences of family violence, but also best practice solutions and tips for working with victims and perpetrators within a financial counselling framework” said Conrad.