Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103

The case, Eatock v Bolt [2011] FCA 1103, is one the few successful complaints of racial vilification brought by an Aboriginal person. Ms Pat Eatock brought an action against the prominent commentator, Andrew Bolt, and The Herald and Weekly Times Pty Ltd under s 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (‘RDA’). The complaint concerned articles published by the Herald Sun during 2009, in which prominent, light-skinned Aboriginal people were targeted and criticised for their decision to identify as Aboriginal. Ms Eatock argued that the articles were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate a group of people—namely, a broad group of ‘Aboriginal persons of mixed descent who have fairer, rather than darker skin’ and a group of nine people (herself included) who were specifically identified. Further, she argued that the conduct was done because of the race, colour, or national or ethnic origin of some or all of the people in the group. The Federal Court concluded that Bolt’s public comments fell within the category of unlawful conduct defined by s 18C of the RDA and that no exemptions applied. The Court ordered that the publisher publish in the Herald Sun a ‘corrective notice’ summarising the outcome of the case, but noted that the publisher could continue to publish the articles, so long as they were accompanied by the notice. The Court did not order the perpetrator and publisher to apologise or pay damages. Instead of being rewritten, the judgment has itself been critiqued through the medium of a poem which has been written in an Indigenous voice.