Unfortunately the popularity and high prices of Aboriginal art attract unscrupulous people who set up ‘sweat shops' around Alice Springs and exploit poverty stricken Aboriginal people by various means. These dealers are the beneficiaries of this exploitation and the CLC urges the Australian Taxation Office to investigate this enormous, undocumented cash economy. There are many cases of Aboriginal people unable to leave the premises until they have discharged ‘debts' run up with these dealers by painting more and more pictures in an endless vicious circle. The longer they stay in town, the more debt they run up. Often the prices paid by these dealers are far below the proper value the painter should receive but it's instant cash and therefore attractive to people who are in a feast or famine cycle of poverty. Aboriginal people on dialysis are particularly vulnerable to these dealers. They have to be in town for treatment and are left with virtually no spending money after paying accommodation costs. Many of these people are from the Western Desert and their art is highly sought after. There is a practice of paying the families of well-known painters good money for low quality paintings in an effort to entice the famous painter into the circle. It appears to be a successful strategy as now many of the great names can be found in a hot tin shed in the back streets of Alice Springs producing canvasses of varying quality.

I’m talking about commercial dealers who encourage groups of artists to come and paint in a shed, for which they are paid wages. These are garages in Alice Springs; they’re very hot places. Artists are not necessarily paid the value of the paintings that they paint, they are paid in terms of slabs of beer, clothing, other benefits like being run around town, having their family looked after. ... We need to be clear that sometimes Aboriginal people see benefits in relationships, in being helped out with various problems, rather than cash values. But these are desperate places too, and the practice in these places is open to question. And I believe there is regular unconscionable conduct, entrapment, artists placed under legal duress, and fraud.

SARA EVERINGHAM: While it's not known which particular dealers the CLC wants investigated, one private dealer in Alice Springs, Chris Simon, says artists can decide for themselves who they want to work for.

He told ABC Local Radio this week the art centres are being paternalistic and don't like competition.

CHRIS SIMON: It's been a closed industry for a certain few select whites in Melbourne and Sydney to have the works funnelled from the co-ops directly to them. No effort, no outlay of money, the co-ops are there to… you know, for the welfare of Aboriginal people. They're probably not geared for direct marketing, so they've had to use agents interstate.

And in my personal opinion there's certain people in Melbourne and Sydney have had it just too good for too long.