Voices for Change: the Consumer Right to Representation

World Consumer Rights Day 2002: Voices for Change
4 Making it Real: Strategies for
Effective Representation
CI’s 1988 WCRD kit, Doing It Ourselves,
suggested this formula for consumer
representation: “As a consumer group,
your role with politicians, government
officials, elected representatives and
ministers is ambiguous. You must maintain
a delicate balance. You must make friends
and influence people among the powersthat-be.
But you must also be an irritant,
a gadfly, continually pressing for
improvements to the status quo by
suggesting changes and pointing
out shortcomings.”
Effective representation of consumer interests
is a work-in-progress. There is no set formula
or recipe; strategies that work in one area may
fail in another, or at a later date. Because of
this, consumer organisations have developed
a wide range of tools and tactics that have
proven useful in a variety of settings and
combinations. The tips that follow can
empower consumer groups by strengthening
their consultation and feedback skills in
ways that will allow them to speak more
forcefully and more convincingly for
consumer welfare.
Representatives
A consumer representative is a member of a
government, professional body, industry or
non-governmental organisation committee
who voices the consumer perspective and
takes part in the decision-making process on
behalf of consumers. Ideally this person is
nominated by an organisation of consumers,
and is accountable to it. According to the
Consumer Health Foundation (CHF) of
Australia, the role of a consumer
representative involves:
• protecting the interests of consumers;
• presenting how consumers may feel and
think about certain issues;
• contributing the consumer experience;
• ensuring that the committee, agency or
regulator recognises consumer concerns;
• reporting the activities of the committee
to consumers;
• ensuring accountability to consumers;
• acting as a watchdog on issues affecting
consumers;
• providing information about any relevant
issues affecting consumers.
Consumer representatives are not the same
thing as representative consumers. The former
speak with a collective voice as members of
a consumer organisation, community or
public interest group. The latter tend to be
unaffiliated individuals whose role is to
provide the views of “ordinary” members of
the public. While this “lay person” model has
legitimate insights to offer, the “consumer
delegate” model is more likely to make
informed contributions, provide leadership
and confer legitimacy to the consultation
process.
In either case, the key issue is knowing one’s
constituency and understanding what it means
to be representative. It is essential to know
which consumers you serve, including any
groups or minorities within those consumers
who may have different needs or views from
the majority. The consumer representative
must always bear in mind which groups might
be under-represented. Those consumers who
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