[MSN] Museum bones legal fight 'a waste' of $1m

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Museum bones legal fight 'a waste' of $1m
Matthew Denholm, Peter Wilson 
February 24, 2007 

AN Aboriginal group has broken ranks to oppose costly legal action aimed at
stopping a British museum conducting tests on indigenous remains.
Tasmania's Lia Pootah community yesterday attacked the case against London's
Natural History Museum as a waste of money, as lawyers predicted legal fees
could top $1 million. 
Indigenous leader and Labor national president Warren Mundine also expressed
concern about the cost, as well as the loss of information obtained from the
tests, which he said could benefit Aborigines. 

The federal Government has committed to paying the costs of the Tasmanian
Aboriginal Centre, including any costs awarded against it if the case is
lost. 

It has also joined the case before the British High Court as a party in its
own right, making it one of up to seven parties in a growing lawyers'
banquet. 

Lia Pootah spokeswoman Kaye McPherson yesterday told The Weekend Australian
taxpayers' money would be better directed to indigenous education and
cultural programs. She said the DNA and other tests proposed by the museum
might have benefits for Aboriginal Australians, a point backed by Mr
Mundine. 

"There is a very emotional balancing act," Mr Mundine said. "What was done
(taking of Aboriginal remains) is nothing short of horrible. At the same
time, there has been some research that has come out of this which could
have been good." 

After a protracted legal and moral debate, the NHM late agreed last year to
hand back the remains of 17 Tasmanian Aborigines that were held in its
collection. 
However, it is insisting on first completing a range of "data collection",
ranging from CT scans to drilling into skulls and removing fragments for DNA
and other analysis. 

The High Court action is aimed at securing the return of the remains before
further tests. But Ms McPherson said that as she believed such tests had
already been conducted, the legal action was a waste of money. 

Lawyers involved in the case, to be heard over three days from March 7,
predict legal fees could easily top $1million. 

Attorney-General Philip Ruddock refused to detail any cost estimates for the
case. "The department will work with the TAC to ensure costs are kept to a
reasonable level," his spokesman said, adding that if successful the TAC
would repay federal funds provided. 

An NHM report says data obtained from small samples of the remains are vital
for research into the "diversity and evolution" of humans. 

Bones and teeth, it argues, can unlock "large-scale patterns of human
evolution ... migration patterns, pathology and many other questions". 

Ms McPherson said her group believed some of the research would "benefit our
community" but the expenditure on the legal challenge was "appalling". 

Mr Mundine agreed the likely funding for the High Court case "could be
better spent" on health and education programs, but stopped short of calling
for the case to be dropped. 

The Lia Pootah are taking legal advice on a potential challenge to a
decision of the Tasmanian Supreme Court recognising the TAC as the executor
of the estates of the 17 Aborigines. The Lia Pootah and the TAC have for
years challenged each other's claims to represent Tasmanian Aborigines. 

Ms McPherson accused the TAC of wanting to prevent DNA testing by the museum
because it could be used to develop a test to determine Tasmanian
Aboriginality. 

TAC legal adviser Michael Mansell would not comment yesterday, but he has
frequently dismissed the Lia Pootah as "white fellas". 

Mr Mundine urged both groups to work through their differences, while
federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough backed the TAC as the
"appropriate group" to take possession of the remains. 

Mark Stephens, a London solicitor working for the TAC, said lawyers
representing the NHM had disclosed that their fees alone had already passed
pound stg. 100,000 ($248,000). 

"And that could double by the time the actual hearing is held," he said.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21278185-2702,00.html