Andrew Bolt Profile

Early Life and Family

Andrew Bolt was born in Adelaide, Australia, in 1959. His parents were both Dutch immigrants. He attended school in Australia and spent his childhood in remote rural areas. His father was a teacher and principal.

He is married to Sally Morrell and has three children. Career

Bolt has hosted the weekly television show ‘The Bolt Report’ since 2011. The show focuses on right-wing, conservative commentary, by Bolt and others. However, comments made by Bolt are often also picked up by other media, including left wing and progressive media, who comment on Bolt’s remarks. In 2011, Anne Summers wrote of Bolt in ‘The Monthly’, “Taken together, the columns, the blogs, the radio and the television constitute a formidable media presence and a powerful voice that seems destined to just keep growing.” (Source) He also writes opinion pieces that are published in News Corp publications such as the Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph. He has experience in all areas of media, having co-hosted a radio show and facilitated a web forum.

Court Case

In 2011, a Federal Court Judge ruled that Andrew Bolt had breached the Racial Discrimination Act. The ruling was about articles that Bolt had written in 2009, that suggested that light-skinned Aboriginal people claimed their Aboriginality for personal gain. They were ruled as breaches because they contained factual errors and were not written ‘in good faith’.

Bolt defended his articles, claiming that they were simply ‘free speech’. Then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott also defended Bolt, stating that “Free speech means the right of people to say what you don’t like, not just the right of people to say what you do like.”

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