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Respect Aboriginal intellectual property, researchers told

April 29, 2005

Jack BeetsonKeepers of Aboriginal traditional knowledge must be guarded from exploitation by pharmaceutical companies, among others, according to a prominent Aboriginal educator and commentator who visited The University of New England this week.

Aboriginal intellectual property rights have been neglected for too long, Jack Beetson told UNE academics and staff during his three-day visit.

“By and large Aboriginal people have shared their traditional knowledge,” Mr Beetson said. “But too often the Aborigine is still sitting beside the tree or the riverbank twenty years later while the pharmaceutical company is making millions of dollars.”

Examples of traditional Aboriginal medicines being used commercially include tea tree and eucalyptus oil and the smokebush plant, which is being investigated as a possible AIDS cure.

Mr Beetson is a former member of the councils of the University of Technology, Sydney and Southern Cross University and was a non-government member of the Australian delegation to the UN International Working Group on Indigenous Peoples. He has been commenting on issues surrounding research and Aboriginal people for about 30 years.

Mr Beetson was invited to UNE by the Human Research Ethics Committee and the Centre for Research in Aboriginal and Multicultural Studies. During his visit he spoke on a wide range of issues, including ethical practices in research in Aboriginal communities, Aboriginal intellectual property rights and water rights.

Mr Beetson said Aboriginal people needed to become equal partners in research conducted in their communities and that such research should be mutually beneficial. He said Aboriginal participants should be recognised academically for their contributions to university studies, in the form of honorary degrees or doctorates.

“In the past people conducting research [using Aboriginal knowledge] have benefited a great deal in terms of academic recognition, money and increased living standards. Unfortunately the people providing the knowledge have not moved on at all in terms of quality of life,” he said.

He also said research in Aboriginal communities must be done with an eye to possible benefits to those communities. “It can no longer just be research for research’s sake,” he said. “It’s now time for researchers to start asking these communities what sort of research they require.”

Mr Beetson said he was impressed with the ethical standards of research being carried out today at the University of New England. The researchers he met at UNE were highly sensitive to cultural and ethical issues surrounding indigenous research, he said.

“It’s a huge step forward from this university’s point of view to be inviting people like me onto campus to talk about these issues,” he said.

Mr Beetson is well-known to people in rural and regional Australia as a frequent commentator on ABC Regional Radio on Aboriginal issues. He currently works with the Port Macquarie Aboriginal Land Council and the Northern Rivers Catchment Authority, while also running programs for young offenders and homeless children at the Aboriginal Philosophy Farm outside Port Macquarie.

For more information phone Leon Braun (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3771.

Posted by Leon Braun at April 29, 2005 01:38 PM