13 Jan 2020

Vanuatu consider a bill claiming rights to bungy jumping

From Summer Report, 8:16 am on 13 January 2020

On Vanuatu's Pentecost Island, each year "land divers" tie vines around their ankles before leaping from a 30 foot platform.

The traditional practice goes back centuries, and AJ Hackett's website credits it as the origin of bungy jumping.

The Vanuatu parliament are now considering a bill to protect their people's traditional knowledge and culture, and help them benefit from commercial uses of it - and specifically name bungy jumping.

Wellington indigenous Intellectual Property law expert Lynell Tuffery-Huria says now is the time for AJ Hackett to do the right thing, and start a dialogue with the people of Pentecost Island.

Leigh-Marama McLachlan reports.