Andrew Bolt breached discrimination act - court (Australia's most prominent conservative columnist)

news.com.au ^ | 28th September 2011

[naturalman1975]

A COURT has found News Limited columnist Andrew Bolt breached the Racial Discrimination Act.

In a Federal Court judgment handed down today Justice Mordy Bromberg said he was satisfied that fair-skinned Aboriginal people were reasonably likely to have been "offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated by the imputations conveyed" in newspaper articles written by Bolt.

He found the articles by Bolt, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, contravened the Racial Discrimination Act.

The articles, which were published in 2009, were headlined "It's so hip to be black" and "White fellas in the black".

In his judgment, Justice Bromberg said the imputations conveyed by the articles were plainly calculated to convey a message about the race, ethnicity or colour of fair-skinned Aboriginal people, including whether those people were sufficiently of Aboriginal race, colour or ethnicity to be identified as Aboriginal.

[naturalman1975]

The nine Aborigines taking legal action against Mr Bolt were former ATSIC member Geoff Clark, artist Bindi Cole, academic Larissa Behrendt, author Anita Heiss, health worker Leeanne Enoch, native title expert Graham Atkinson, academic Wayne Atkinson, lawyer Mark McMillan and activist Pat Eatock.

The nine Aborigines:

Geoff Clark

Bindi Cole

Larissa Behrendt

Anita Heiss

Leeanne Enoch

Grahma Atkinson

Wayne Atkinson

Mark McMillan

Pat Eatock

I do not feel able to make any other comment for legal reasons.

[muawiyah]

Some people tan; some people don't. You cross me with an abo anything could happen although I'm not sure the offspring living in Australia would benefit all that much from the extra adaptations for life in the Arctic!

Fur shur, though, 10 minutes of Sun a month would give 'em a full shot of Vitamin D.

It seems there are people in Australia who really can't imagine that the place is into 10 generations of mixing! Frankly it's a fools errand to seek some cut off to the fact one has an Aborigine ancestor or two ~ it puts you in the same place as the Cherokee in the US who've decided to kick out the Cherokee who have too many black ancestors (they used to keep slaves you know).

Does anyone know if there are any benefits beyond hunting, fishing and camping that such ancestry provides in Australia?

[BenLurkin]

Look like Democrats.

[GeronL]

Punishing people for their opinions.

Such a leftist thing to do.

[RightGeek]

They remind me of the USA’s own fake Indian, Ward Churchill. As for Justice Mordy Bromberg - come and get me in the USA.

[DB]

The First Amendment matters.

There is no basic right to not be “offended”.

As soon as “offended” becomes the legal standard of governing speech there is no more speech as there’s no end to what constitutes being offended.

[muawiyah]

I think the issue some have with this group of 9 is that they end up looking TOO EUROPEAN, so that raises a question about their legitimacy as Aboriginals.

I wouldn't expect Australians to have all that much familiarity with the full spectrum of mixed folks we have in America.

Still, it's time for Australia to abandon it's Fascist past and get on with the 21st century. NOBODY CARES.

[PotatoHeadMick]

Will there be any punishment handed down against Bolt?

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I’ll bet their boomerangs don’t come back.

[BenLurkin]

Liberty there is obviously not as important as “sensitivity”.

[G Larry]

I’d write:

The court is an a$$ and the plaintiffs are liars.
I’ll appeal this verdict and continue writing my opinions without regard to whom they offend.

[muawiyah]

What Ward Churchill never understood is that the odds are good he has some ancestry in common with MOST North American, but not South American Indians.

I'd like to see if this guy has the X-Factor sequence peculiar to the Sa'ami, Fulbi, Yakuts, Berbers, Cherokee and Iroquois (plus, of course, the ever present Chippewa ~ many of whom have always "passed for white")

[muawiyah]

Australians are still new at this "mixed race" business ~ it's well known the Irish have been breeding with the English for some time now, but that doesn't show as much.

They should be more concerned about the state of their law.

Crushing speech doesn't make friends, although questions about legitimate membership in an organization that gets government funds on the basis of relationships to a foundational population could veer over into libel law ~ even here.

[ApplegateRanch]

The punchline of an old (sophomoric) joke comes to mind:

“The only way to know for sure is to pull down their genes, and examine their chromosomes.”

Not being subject to Aussie laws, I can safely opine that these are probably Australian analogs to the Kaweah Indian Nation that is composed almost exclusively of non Native Americans...and was also involved in fraudulent selling of 'tribal memberships' to illegal aliens, as a supposed means of procuring "citizenship".

[lephantom]

I’m really offended by the demo-communist stupid racist propaganda. Only THEY can mention race. Anyone else and they’re RACIST. Just more PC Un-American Propaganda. Or in this case, PC Un-Australia Propaganda to mention that some of their Aboriginals aren’t BLACK.?

Watch out Australia. They are setting you up for more islamic terrorist bombings.

[Ken H]

Bindi Cole - not guilty

Larissa Behrendt - split jury

Anita Heiss - NOT GUILTY!

Leeanne Enoch - not guilty

Pat Eatock (I misread that name at first) - guilty

[muawiyah]

Still, the basis of the judge's ruling is that he says it may be safely assumed that.... blah blah blah...... they don't want to be mistaken for black people with attention called to the fact they look white.

Something like that.

The judge assumes Abos are more easily offended than others because ~ why? Does the judge think they are stupid?

[Paradox]

The guy should continue writing his opinions, in defiance of the court, and when the come to put him in jail, he should run away the the USA and apply for political asylum.

[GeronL]

conservatives and christians will never be protected from being offended.

[muawiyah]

Anita does look like the friendly sort ~ and folks wonder how her Abo lineage turned out so light ~ no mystery at all about that.

Yeah, she is really, really, really NOT GUILTY. Somebody else did it.