Article Submission to IP Australia regarding their consultation on Indigenous Knowledge and its protection. Title: Identifying and Preventing Biopiracy in Australia: Patent trends for plants with Indigenous Australian uses

Indigenous Australians have lived in and off the Australian continent for at least 40,000 years meaning their knowledge of locally found plants and animals is unparalleled. This knowledge has ecological significance, with land and ‘bush’ management techniques employed historically and currently, having important effects for the stewardship and conservation of biodiversity. In the last 20 years, there has been an increasing commercial interest in exploring options for the use of native plants for food, food additives, botanical medicines, and related purposes. The ethical commercial use of these could have benefits for communities and conservation, whilst use without consent and benefit-sharing is likely to attract criticisms and claims of biopiracy. The paper reports on an analysis of the plant-based Indigenous Australian knowledge ‘patent landscape,’ including identification of several patents of potential new biopiracy concern. It highlights the way that private actors (individuals and companies) are appropriating both ‘sovereign’ and Indigenous rights recognised biological resources and associated knowledge, through attempts to gain private property monopolies. It then makes some recommendations about how to improve the access and benefit sharing (ABS) and intellectual property laws affecting this knowledge and the associated biodiversity.