Indigenous actor sues James Cameron for ‘stealing’ her facial features for Avatar character https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/06/indigenous-actor-james-cameron-avatar-lawsuit
Suit says director used Q’orianka Kilcher’s features without permission after seeing her in advert for The New World. #IndigenousIP #publicityrights #personalityrights #performersrights
Indigenous actor sues James Cameron for ‘stealing’ her facial features for Avatar character

Suit says director used Q’orianka Kilcher’s features without permission after seeing her in advert for The New World

The Guardian
Clean energy switch must not be excuse to plunder Indigenous lands, say leaders
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/27/clean-energy-switch-must-not-be-excuse-to-plunder-indigenous-lands-say-leaders
Global conference told benefits should not come at expense of well-protected environments #IndigenousIP
Clean energy switch must not be excuse to plunder Indigenous lands, say leaders

Global conference told benefits should not come at expense of well-protected environments

The Guardian
First Nations group launches bid to halt Olympic stadium plan

An application to prevent the development of a 63,000-seat Olympic stadium at Brisbane's Victoria Park has been lodged with the federal government.

Relational futures: Indigenous sovereignty and the governance of artificial intelligence (AI)
Bronwyn Carlson, Tamika Worrell
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/relational-futures-indigenous-sovereignty-and-the-governance-of-a/
#IndigenousIP #AI #governance #datasovereignty
Relational futures: Indigenous sovereignty and the governance of artificial intelligence (AI)

Macquarie University

Walking for truth: Travis Lovett’s 500km journey to remind Albanese of his promise to create a First Nations truth-telling commission https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/19/walking-for-truth-travis-lovetts-500km-journey-albanese-first-nations-truth-telling-commission-ntwnfb

Former Yoorrook justice commissioner says he wants to start a national discussion on a subject that is often misunderstood by the wider public

#voicetreatytruth #IndigenousIP #auspol #UNDRIP

Walking for truth: Travis Lovett’s 500km journey to remind Albanese of his promise to create a First Nations truth-telling commission

Former Yoorrook justice commissioner says he wants to start a national discussion on a subject that is often misunderstood by the wider public

The Guardian
Aboriginal elder's mission to get stolen artefact back after 70 years

An Aboriginal breastplate given to Jack Kapeen in 1865 disappeared from a Lismore museum about 100 years later, only to be sold at auction in 2011. 

'Alongside hits by The Beatles and Harry Styles, the soundtrack to sci-fi blockbuster Project Hail Mary includes a powerful version of the waiata 'Pō Atarau', a song originally written in te reo Māori which became a global hit in English as 'Now is the Hour'.

Erima Maewa Kaihau (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Te Ata) — the woman who first penned its vocal melody and original te reo lyrics back in the mid-1910s — didn't receive the attribution or payment she deserved for her song's success, says Austin Haynes.

"It's a real shame that she has lain forgotten for such a long time, and that the song has become detached from her own name and kōrero, her own story," he tells RNZ's Nights.' https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/music/finally-recognising-her-mana-the-maori-composer-whose-110-year-old-song-features-in-project-hail #music #copyright #IndigenousIP #Nzlaw #HailMary

'She has lain forgotten': the Māori composer whose 110-year-old song features in Project Hail Mary

While it's fitting that 'Pō Atarau' was used in a story of intergalactic friend-making, Erima Maewa Kaihau's name became "detached" from the song, a Wellington academic says.

RNZ

'APYACC says it suffered a significant financial loss as a result of The Australian’s reporting, including a downturn in sales. And while their state funding was reinstated last year, the collective believes their expulsion from the Indigenous Art Code, as a result of the allegations, has adversely affected their federal funding applications in the years since.

In a defamation suit lodged with South Australia’s supreme court, the collective is suing Nationwide News, publisher of The Australian newspaper, for $4.4m: a figure that includes the loss of the NGA sale, which they put at $1,397,000, and their lost federal funding, which they estimated at $1.07m.' https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/ng-interactive/2026/apr/11/apy-lands-indigenous-australian-art-exhibition-nga-ngura-pulka-lawsuit #IndigenousIP #defamation #auslaw #auspol #art #media

After three years, investigations and now a $4.4m lawsuit, Australia’s most controversial art exhibition finally opens

Ngura Puḻka at the National Gallery of Australia is a landmark exhibition of 30 paintings by Indigenous artists in the APY Arts Centre Collective, which was investigated over claims white workers had interfered with black art

The Guardian
Failed referendum inspires two top dance companies to join forces

Sixteen dancers from Bangarra Dance Theatre and 19 ballet dancers from the Australian Ballet have joined forces for Flora, choreographed by Bangarra artistic director Frances Rings.

New Book (following on from the podcast and the TV series) - Stuff the British Stole by Marc Fennell https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1761354671/
'In the days of the British Empire, things were taken that probably shouldn't have been. So how come they're still in museums, galleries and some much stranger places?'
#culture #heritage #IndigenousIP #GLAM #repatriation