Wiradjuri artist Peta-Joy Williams has been painting for as long as she can remember but she's sick of others stealing her ideas.
"Everything I do comes from my mind or dreams or what I've been handed down so for someone to come in and rip it off and think that's okay is really frustrating."
Vendors passing off Aboriginal art and artefacts as authentic.
"Clearly they have no idea, they've got no spirituality, they've got no connection to what they're doing. And they're ripping off the concept of art.".
It's feared as much as 80 per cent of Indigenous art sold could be imported.
But Queensland MP for Kennedy Bob Katter says that under Australia's Competition and Consumer laws it is not illegal for 'Aboriginal Style' imports to be sold, so long as they don't claim to be authentic, and have a label stating where they are made.
He wants to make those imports illegal.
"I identify, as often as not, as First Australian. And as a First Australian I dont want people making a quid out of fraudulently portraying themselves and their art as First Australian when it is not. It is something that we have contributed to our nation and at the very least the First Australians deserve the credit for it. "
Peta-Joy Williams says local artists around the country are suffering from the imports.
"I know there's a lot of people cashing in on Aboriginal art, whether they're paying artists for their works or paying them minimal money for their works and then mass producing them and then at the end of the day they're making the big dollars out of it, so this is a great move I think and more of it needs to happen."
Bob Katter's proposed legislation would ensure consumers are buying authentic art, and those who create it see their share of the proceeds.
Robyn Ayres, chief executive of Arts Law, a national community legal centre for the arts, also welcomes the move..
"When people can go into a shop and they see something like a boomerang or didgeridoo they will know it is authentic and it wont be a rip-off that's come in from overseas, from Indonesia or somewhere else. So what' we're aiming for is strong legislation which stops the appropriation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and also provides a fantastic economic opportunity to provide authentic product which hopefully will flood the market and we won't see any more of this rubbish that's made from overseas."
Gabrielle Sullivan, from Indigenous Art Code, a resource for Indigenous artists, says the onus should be on the buyer.
"Ask who the artist is, ask where the artist is from, ask how the artist gets paid for their work. If someone can answer those questions on the spot there's a good chance the art is authentic. If someone hesitates around those questions start asking more questions and it's pretty obvious when they can't give you an answer it's probably not authentic."
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