Consumer Champion: ‘Systemic change is the most exciting part of the role’ 

Alex Price-Busch doesn’t fit the bill of your average financial counsellor. At 28 years of age, he is a couple of decades younger than most who come to the profession later in life after one or more career changes. 

Having worked at the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN) for six years, he says the most important part of the role is keeping an open mind, especially to differences in experiences. 

“The biggest lesson is that there’s always more lessons. It is the kind of job where you continue to learn more and more, not just the work and the role that we do, but about people’s experiences, what is happening for the clients that we see,” he says. 

Speaking to CHOICE from ICAN’s head office in Cairns, Alex says he didn’t think he would end up as a financial counsellor and fell into the role after getting sick and tired of a “dead-end job” at Centrelink during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Over the last half-decade his role has taken him all across Far North Queensland and out to the many remote communities ICAN serves and supports. Alex says there were many elements of the job that he didn’t expect. 

“In general, the amount of businesses and places that really go out of their way to unfortunately exploit people who might not have other options, it really shocked me even within Cairns, but [also] more broadly,” he says. 

“Across the whole of the service area we work in, from Townsville up through to the Torres Strait, we see so many creditors and companies that aren’t always acting in people’s best interest. That aren’t giving people a fair shake in terms of what products they’re being sold or what kind of loans and finances they might be accessing, that’s something that has really stood out to me”. 

Across the vast area of Far North Queensland, he says remote First Nations people have extremely different experiences to those living in the city or regional centres, something that took some adjusting to, even having been born and raised in Cairns himself. 

“I don’t think you can really appreciate the differences until you visit,” he says. 

“The differences in services that we take for granted. What it means to have a bank tell you you have to come into a branch to fix a problem and that means an 800km trek over rough roads.” 

“There’s a lot that is lacking in terms of services, but at the same time there is a closeness to the tight-knit communities and the familiar connection that is really special when you get to see it, when you are lucky enough to visit,” he adds. 

When asked if his job as a counsellor in remote First Nations communities is made easier by him being First Nations himself, Alex shies away from the idea, saying conversations about fishing and the region’s NRL team the Cowboys are what break down barriers in community more than anything else. 

He says he continues to find the job rewarding and is hoping to have an even bigger impact as he transitions away from frontline financial counselling work and moves more towards a workforce development role across the northern parts of Australia for ICAN. 

For Alex, it is the chance to make systemic changes that remains the most rewarding part of the job. 

“Helping people one-on-one is important and obviously rewarding, but it’s that systemic advocacy and when you can make systems change for a large number of people that really excites me,” he says. 

“The highlight of the job is when you can highlight a big problem, find the right channel to get it fixed and get that outcome,” Alex adds.

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Jarni Blakkarly

Jarni Blakkarly is an award-winning Investigative Journalist at CHOICE. Jarni has worked for news organisations such as SBS, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, ABC 730, Radio National, BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle. Jarni won the Walkley Foundation's young journalist of the year student category award in 2016 and was the recipient of a Melbourne Press Club Michael Gordon fellowship in 2022. In 2023 he was a highly commended finalist in the Quill Awards and a winner at the 2024 Excellence in Civil Liberties journalism awards. In 2024 he was elected to serve on the Federal Council (National Media Section) of the MEAA. Jarni has a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

Jarni Blakkarly is an award-winning Investigative Journalist at CHOICE. Jarni has worked for news organisations such as SBS, Reuters, Al Jazeera English, ABC 730, Radio National, BBC World Service and Deutsche Welle. Jarni won the Walkley Foundation's young journalist of the year student category award in 2016 and was the recipient of a Melbourne Press Club Michael Gordon fellowship in 2022. In 2023 he was a highly commended finalist in the Quill Awards and a winner at the 2024 Excellence in Civil Liberties journalism awards. In 2024 he was elected to serve on the Federal Council (National Media Section) of the MEAA. Jarni has a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).