On 28 September 2011 Bromberg J of the Federal Court handed down his judgment in Eatock v Bolt [2001] FCA 1103.
This case involved a complaint under s.18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) that Mr. Andrew Bolt, journalist and political commentator, had published several articles in the Herald Sun newspaper that were offensive to the Ms. Eatock on the basis of her race.
In the articles Mr. Bolt had made allegations concerning the Aboriginality of several prominent Indigenous Australians, including Ms. Eatock, by name and commented in inflammatory terms on what he saw as the motivations behind such persons identifying as Aboriginal. The proceedings were taken by Ms. Eatock on her own behalf and on behalf of others named in the articles.
Bromberg J found against Mr. Bolt and the Herald and Weekly Times. He saw that the articles in question were offensive, insulting, humiliating and intimidating on the basis of race. His Honour also found that Mr. Bolt’s articles did not fall within the defences in s.18D.
Ms. Eatock had sought an apology but not damages as a remedy. His Honour ordered that the articles not be republished and indicated that in the absence of an apology he would order that a corrective notice be published in the newspaper.
The decision in this matter caused a significant amount of controversy in the media as to its affect on freedom of expression. However Bromberg J stated that the nature of Mr. Bolt’s articles, had they not been caught by s.18C, would have been likely to have been the subject of a successful defamation action.
The full judgement can be viewed at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2011/1103.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=title(Eatock%20and%20Bolt%20)