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Federal Court Case Against Columnist Discontinued
A lawsuit alleging breaches of section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act was filed in mid-May and later withdrawn. The suit targeted commentary aired on Sky News in November 2023 and published in the Herald Sun in December 2023.
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A Federal Court case alleging that commentary by a columnist breached section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act was discontinued last week. The suit, filed in mid-May by three First Nations applicants represented by the Racial Justice Centre, claimed that statements calling Indigenous knowledge "primitive" caused offence, insult, humiliation and intimidation.
The applicants sought apologies and compensation. The commentary in question included a November 2023 Sky News segment and two Herald Sun opinion pieces from December 2023 that discussed Indigenous knowledge and a Tiwi Islands legal effort to block a Santos gas pipeline.
The first Herald Sun article, published December 13, criticized Energy Minister Chris Bowen after he referenced Indigenous peoples at a COP28 conference. The second article, published December 17, clarified the use of the term "primitive" and responded to accusations of racism.
The applicants were musician Adrian Burragubba and Gomeroi people Cameron Manning and Gwenda Stanley. The case follows a 2011 Federal Court finding that the same columnist breached section 18C, a decision the columnist publicly discussed in 2014.
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