In this artwork by Yuin woman Rheanna Lotter (Ngandabaa), CHOICE is the middle circle, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and nations are represented by brown, green and blue. With a focus on connection and strength, CHOICE's values of Truth, Help and Impact flow in lines from the circle. These lines never break, yet give us room to grow.
On this page:
Why we developed a RAP
Connection is at the core of our work. After all, our fight for fair, safe and just markets has only been possible through people power. Our connections to consumers, media, and many other organisations, including government, have helped us investigate injustice, test claims made by marketers, and push for better consumer protections for more than 60 years.
However, through all the decades of campaigning, we hadn't looked specifically at how we could best support the consumer rights of First Nations Australians.
We'd never taken a step back and thought about how we could work more deliberately to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers to enjoy their legal rights
"We'd never taken a step back and thought about how we can work more deliberately to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers to enjoy their legal rights," says CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland. "In adopting this Reconciliation Action Plan, we recognise that to deliver on the CHOICE purpose, we need to do just that."
Our RAP
Our year-long 'Reflect' plan (see the four types of RAP, below), from August 2022 to August 2023, commits us to 14 actions. It will guide us towards:
- identifying partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations in our work
- increasing our knowledge and formalising how we acknowledge, and show respect to, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures
- increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment opportunities, and increased procurement with Aboriginal- and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations.
Download the CHOICE Reconciliation Action Plan 2022–2023 (PDF, 2.7MB)
Read an accessible version CHOICE Reconciliation Action Plan 2022–2023 text only
Our commitment aligns with CHOICE values, and will be driven at all levels: from our Board, our executive and staff. A governance framework will also be set up to report on our RAP commitments, actions and results.
What is a RAP?
RAPs are specifically designed for workplaces. CHOICE has worked with Reconciliation Australia and adopted its RAP Framework to begin our journey towards reconciliation.
There are four types of RAP to suit organisations at different stages of their journey:
- Reflect: Scoping capacity for reconciliation
- Innovate: Implementing reconciliation initiatives
- Stretch: Embedding reconciliation
- Elevate: Leadership in reconciliation
"RAPs are an accessible and robust framework for organisations to commit to respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and a useful starting point for organisations to embark on and measure their contributions to a more just, equitable and reconciled country," says Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine.
First Peoples' consumer rights and our work
Here are some of our more recent articles on consumer injustices that are being experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Dodgy car sales in remote communities
With support from the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network, we travelled to the remote Aboriginal community of Wujal Wujal in Far North Queensland, where residents are being sold lemon cars and left with no redress.
Save Sorry Business
CHOICE was part of a coalition of more than 100 organisations that came together to call on government to support First Nations peoples affected by the collapse of the Youpla (ACBF) funeral fund.
Education loan scandal
Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are still struggling with the debt legacy from an education loan scandal that targeted socioeconomically vulnerable communities up until 2016.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
