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Voyages Hotels misled consumers about tours to Aboriginal land at Uluru

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

7 May 2003 - Voyages Hotels and Resorts Pty Ltd misled consumers and contravened the Trade Practices Act 1974 by promoting tours to Yulara Pulka, Aboriginal land near Uluru, when they had no permission to enter the land or conduct the tours, the Federal Court, Darwin has declared.

Voyages has given a court-enforceable undertaking that it will not promote tours to Yulara Pulka if it does not have the required permit or the required agreement with the Aboriginal people or the appropriate Aboriginal bodies. It has been ordered to pay the ACCC’s legal costs of $45,000.

“Aboriginal people should be entitled to expect that if advertising promotes access to Aboriginal land that that advertising is accurate”, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today. “Businesses dealing with Aboriginal people should always ensure that they obtain the necessary permits before advertising that they have the right to enter Aboriginal land.

“Voyages extensively promoted exclusive tours to Aboriginal land at Yulara Pulka in circumstances where they had no permission which would entitle them to conduct such tours.

“Exclusive tours to Yulara Pulka were likely to be a very powerful incentive to attract tourists to the Voyages resort at Uluru.

“The ACCC took court action to ensure that representations made in the tourist industry about access to Aboriginal land does not mislead consumers. Australia’s tourist industry cannot afford the disaffection which can arise if tourists believe they have been misled. Tourism operators should not be in a position to achieve an advantage over their competitors through misleading advertising”.

At the time of promoting the tours Voyages did not have an agreement with the Aboriginal People, the Central Land Council or the Katiti Aboriginal Land Trust allowing Voyages to conduct tours to their homeland, Yulara Pulka.

Voyages also did not have the required permit from the Central Land Council on behalf of the Katiti Aboriginal Land Trust under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act to allow entry to Yulara Pulka.

Voyages promoted tours of Yulara Pulka to local and international agents, consultants, tour operators, tourist information centres and members of the general public between 25 June 2001 and 8 May 2002 through media releases, brochures, international trade shows and via the internet. The tours formed part of Longitude 131º Resort accommodation packages or as part of tour packages from the Ayers Rock Resort. The promotions represented that customers would be taken to and would be permitted to enter Yulara Pulka.

Voyages has also provided a court enforceable undertaking to the ACCC to implement a Trade Practices Act compliance program to ensure that employees are aware of their Trade Practices Act obligations in respect of advertising.

The ACCC acknowledges Voyages cooperation in resolving this matter by consent.

ACCC Obtains Interim Orders Against Aboriginal-Style Souvenir Dealer

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission

4 April 2003 - The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has obtained interim orders today in the Federal Court, Brisbane restraining Australian Icon Products Pty Ltd until trial from describing or referring to its range of hand painted or hand carved Indigenous oriented souvenirs as “Aboriginal art” or “Authentic” unless it reasonably believes that the artwork or souvenir was painted or carved by a person of Aboriginal descent.

The orders, which were by consent, included an order requiring Australian Icon to send a letter to its retail customers and to post that letter on its web site correcting those representations.

One of Australia’s largest manufacturers of Aboriginal-style souvenirs, Australian Icon claims to supply over 1700 retailers nationally and export to 38 countries around the world.

The ACCC instituted proceedings alleging that Australian Icon represented that some of its hand painted Aboriginal-style souvenirs were “authentic”, “certified authentic” and/or “Australian Aboriginal art”. The ACCC alleges that these representations were likely to mislead because the majority of Australian Icon’s pool of artists who produced the souvenirs were not Aboriginal or of Aboriginal descent.

It is further alleged that a statement by Australian Icon on its website that the pool of artists who paint these souvenirs are “Australian, Aboriginal by descent or Aboriginal” is in itself misleading.

The ACCC’s allegations do not apply to souvenirs that Australian Icon purchases or produces as final products from Indigenous artists.

The ACCC is also seeking final orders that include

• declarations that the alleged conduct breaches the misleading or deceptive conduct provisions of theAct;
• permanent injunctions restraining Australian Icon from engaging in similar conduct in the future;
• further corrective notices to be sent to retailers and displayed on Australian Icon’s website;
• a community service order requiring Australian Icon to supply public notices to retailers alerting customers that they should read the labels carefully as they should not assume products featuring Aboriginal designs are designed or made by Aboriginal people unless the label clearly says so; and
• the implementation of a trade practices compliance program.

The matter has been set down for further directions on 23 May 2003.

Further information
Professor Allan Fels, Chairman, (02) 6243 1129 or pager (02) 6285 6170
Mr Derek Farrell, NT Regional Director, (08) 8946 9605
Ms Lin Enright, Director, Public Relations, (02) 6243 1108 or 0414 613 520

Get all bogus boomerangs off the market, says Aboriginal leader

April 10, 2003

Following an ABC report last week that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) took successful Federal Court action against the nation¹s largest manufacturer of Aboriginal-style souvenirs, an Indigenous leader says that the action should be extended to include other similarly exploitative tourism enterprises.

In a statement yesterday, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Council (ATSIC) Cairns & District Regional Council Chair, Terry O¹Shane, noted that the injunctions against Australian Icons Products being able to label its products as 'authentic' or 'Aboriginal art¹ were a positive move.

"This has been an ongoing trend amongst some less scrupulous operators here in the heart of the North Queensland tourist industry," he said.

"We¹ve seen dodgy didges and bogus boomerangs manufactured by European backpackers hitting the tourist shops as 'authentic Aboriginal art' … Given the often marginal economic position of most Indigenous Australians, these sorts of rip-offs are particularly cruel, as they remove one of the few opportunities for Aboriginal people to profit from the overwhelming interest of tourists in Australian Indigenous culture."

The ACCC needed to be congratulated, he continued, for making this stand. He also looked to a recent Memorandum of Understanding signed between ATSIC and the regulator to ensure future collaborations would put an end to what he described as "these despicable rorts".

Source: Arts Hub Australia

Further reading:

• Solace in a Box of Rocks
  March 25, 2004 - Los Angeles Times - Superstitious or enlightened, tourists are returning pilfered pieces of Australia's Uluru, or Ayers Rock, a sacred place to the Aborigines.Nearly every weekday, rocks sent from around the world arrive here at the headquarters of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
• Racial tensions at Uluru
  December 20, 2002 - Residents of the mostly Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu, next to Uluru or Ayers Rock, have accused management at the nearby resort town of Yulara of racial discrimination, with refusals to allow them full access to its shops and facilities.

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