ASIC's Indigenous Outreach Program (IOP) is today highlighting recent work with the interned Indigenous community in Western Australia to help improve their financial literacy.

In June 2015, the IOP gave a series of presentations to Indigenous people as part of the Fairbridge Bindjareb Project, a 16-week intensive life skills program run through Fairbridge in WA for selected minimum-security prisoners. Participants in the program are guaranteed a placement in the mining industry upon release and completion.

Improving financial literacy skills may help to reduce the default rates on fines for Indigenous West Australians. In 2013, one in five Aboriginal people entering WA prisons completed a sentence solely for fine defaults.

‘The IOP provided an opportunity to discuss money matters and encourage smart money choices for when the participants are employed upon release,’ ASIC Deputy Chair Peter Kell said.

'ASIC through our IOP is proud to support the rehabilitation of Indigenous persons caught up in the justice system, by providing them with useful financial skills, which we hope will equip them for life after prison.'

Topics covered in the presentations included money management, setting financial goals, credit, superannuation and insurance.

Many participants had recent experience with budgeting, allocating their allowance on items like phone credit and essential purchases like shampoo and other similar products.

For younger participants, future financial goals often focussed on car ownership and the sessions run by the IOP looked at the pros and cons of saving to buy a car outright and purchasing through a credit arrangement. Other participants were interested in purchasing a house and providing for their children. 

In September 2015, ASIC's IOP will present to Bindjareb Project's second intake.

Background

ASIC’s IOP was established in 2009 in response to concerns about Indigenous consumers in relation to various financial services issues. The IOP is a national team and undertakes outreach trips to urban, rural and remote Indigenous communities to raise awareness about money matters and to take complaints. They also work with industry and consumer advocates to increase the financial knowledge of, and improve, the services provided to Indigenous Australians.