Leak of intelligence document In June 2003, Bolt published an article criticising
Andrew Wilkie in which he quoted from a
classified intelligence document written by Wilkie as an intelligence analyst for the
Office of National Assessments. It was claimed, but never proven, that someone in Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer's office had leaked the document to Bolt. A spokesperson for the
Australian Federal Police said that they did not have any evidence to identify the culprit.
Stolen Generations Bolt has questioned the existence of the
Stolen Generation. Bolt stated that it is a "preposterous and obscene" myth and that there was actually no policy in any state or territory at any time for the systematic removal of "half-caste" Aboriginal children. Robert Manne responded that Bolt did not address the documentary evidence demonstrating the existence of the Stolen Generations and that this is a clear case of
historical denialism. Bolt stated that, prior to a debate, Manne provided him with a list of 12 names that he was able to show during the debate was "a list of people abandoned, saved from abuse or voluntarily given up by their parents"; and that during the actual debate, Manne produced a list of 250 names without any details or documentation as to their circumstances. Bolt also stated that he was subsequently able to identify and ascertain the history of some of those on the list and was unable to find a case where there was evidence to justify the term "stolen". He stated that one of the names on the list of allegedly stolen children was 13-year-old Dolly, taken into state care after being "found seven months pregnant and penniless, working for nothing on a station". The Bolt/Manne debate is an example of the adversarial arguments on the issue. There is focus on individual examples as evidence for or against the existence of a policy, and little or no analysis of other documentary evidence such as legislative databases showing how the legal basis for removal varied over time and between jurisdictions, or testimony from those who were called on to implement the policies, which was also recorded in the
Bringing Them Home report. A 2008 review of legal cases claims it is difficult for Stolen Generation claimants to challenge what was written about their situation at the time of removal.
Defamation case In 2002, magistrate Jelena Popovic was awarded $246,000 damages for
defamation after suing Bolt and the publishers of the
Herald Sun over a 13 December 2000 column in which he claimed that she had "hugged two drug traffickers she let walk free". Popovic stated that she had in fact shaken their hands to congratulate them on having completed a rehabilitation program. The jury found that what Bolt wrote was untrue, unfair and inaccurate, but cleared him of
malice. Bolt emerged from the
Supreme Court of Victoria after the jury verdict, stating that his column had been accurate and that the mixed verdict was a victory for
free speech. His statement outside the court was harshly criticised by Supreme Court Justice Bernard Bongiorno, who later overturned the jury's decision, ruling that Bolt had not acted reasonably because he did not seek a response from Popovic before writing the article and, in evidence given during the trial, showed he did not care whether or not the article was defamatory. The Court of Appeal later reversed the $25,000 punitive damages, though it upheld the defamation finding, describing Bolt's conduct as "at worst, dishonest and misleading and at best, grossly careless".
Racial discrimination case In September 2010, nine individuals commenced legal proceedings in the Federal Court against Bolt and the
Herald Sun over two posts on Bolt's blog. The nine sued over posts titled "It's so hip to be black", "White is the New Black" and "White Fellas in the Black". The articles suggested it was fashionable for "fair-skinned people" of diverse ancestry to choose Aboriginal racial identity for the purposes of political and career clout. The applicants claimed the posts breached the
Racial Discrimination Act 1975. They sought an apology, legal costs, and a gag on republishing the articles and blogs, and "other relief as the court deems fit". They did not seek damages. On 28 September 2011, Justice
Mordecai Bromberg found Bolt to have contravened section 18C of the
Racial Discrimination Act. The case was controversial. Bolt described the decision as a "terrible day for free speech" in Australia and said it represented "a restriction on the freedom of all Australians to discuss
multiculturalism and how people identify themselves. I argued then and I argue now that we should not insist on the differences between us but focus instead on what unites us as human beings." Bolt later commented that he believed Justice Bromberg's failed attempt to run for the
Labor Party ten years prior had a role in the final decision.
Assault On 6 June 2017, Bolt was assaulted in
Lygon Street, Melbourne by two masked men, while a third apparently filmed the attack. Melbourne
Antifa, a self described "anti-fascism" activist group, appeared to claim a connection in the incident on Facebook, posting that Bolt attacked "some of our family in solidarity ... while they were protesting today". Video footage of the assault on Bolt was described as 'alarming', with Bolt saying he was "sick of being targeted for his conservative beliefs and would pursue his attackers for justice and demand a charitable donation".
Immigration Bolt has spoken out against the changing racial
demographics of Australia. In August 2018, Bolt wrote an article titled "Tidal wave of new tribes dividing us" in which he argues that a "tidal wave" of migrants are swamping Australia, forming enclaves and "changing our culture". He also said "Immigration is becoming colonisation, turning this country from a home into a hotel." This article prompted a press council complaint. Bolt has also spoken approvingly of
Jean Raspail's book
The Camp of the Saints, a novel depicting Europe being swamped by Asian immigrants.
Defence of George Pell In 2019, Bolt defended Cardinal
George Pell, who at that time had been convicted of
child sexual abuse (he was later acquitted by the
High Court), saying that "I am not a Catholic or even a Christian. He is a scapegoat, not a child abuser." He also stated that "In my opinion, this is our own
OJ Simpson case, but in reverse. A man was found guilty not on the facts but on prejudice. ... Cardinal George Pell has been falsely convicted of sexually abusing two boys in their early teens. That's my opinion, based on the evidence." He went on to say that the successful prosecutions case was "flimsy" and that the conviction was the result of a "vicious" smear that formed part of a "sinister" campaign against the cardinal, adding that Pell was being made to "pay for the sins made by his church". Bolt reiterated his support for Pell when the appeal against Pell's conviction was dismissed in Victoria's Court of Appeal. On 7 April 2020, the
High Court of Australia quashed Pell's convictions and determined that verdicts of acquittal be entered in place of all previous verdicts. On 14 April 2020, Bolt interviewed George Pell on
Sky News Australia following his acquittal by the High Court. During the interview, Bolt asked Pell if he felt ashamed of the way the Catholic church dealt with the ongoing
sex abuse crisis. Pell replied that he did and described the crisis as a "cancer", also stating that failures for the church to act still haunted him. Pell said he didn't commit the alleged Melbourne sex abuse and didn't know why the accuser testified against him. He suggested the accuser may have been 'used'.
Comments regarding Greta Thunberg In July 2019, Bolt made comments about Swedish climate activist
Greta Thunberg in which he questioned the legitimacy of her views on climate breakdown due to Thunberg's
autism. "I have never seen a girl so young and with so many mental disorders treated by so many adults as a guru", wrote Bolt. He went on to question why such leaders "treat a young and strange girl with such awe and even rapture". The comments were widely seen as ignorant. Later in the article, Bolt went on to describe Thunberg's younger sister as displaying "a spectacular range of mental issues". Thunberg responded to the article on Twitter, saying "I am indeed 'deeply disturbed' about the fact that these hate and conspiracy campaigns are allowed to go on and on and on just because we children communicate and act on the science. Where are the adults?" In an earlier article in the
Griffith Review (2012, following
Eatock v Bolt) titled "Andrew Bolt's Disappointment" (also reproduced in
Salt: Selected Stories and Essays), Pascoe had suggested that he and Bolt could "have a yarn" together, without rancour, because "I think it's reasonable for Australia to know if people of pale skin identifying as Aborigines are
fair dinkum". He described how and why his Aboriginal ancestry – and that of many others – had allegedly been buried. In early 2020, the feud escalated when Bolt published a letter provided to him by
Josephine Cashman, which resulted in Cashman being dismissed from the Federal Government's
Indigenous voice to government's Senior Advisory Group. In the blog post, Bolt said the letter had been written by a
Yolngu elder, denouncing Pascoe and
Dark Emu. However the elder asserted that he had not written the letter, and it was also found to have paragraphs lifted from other sources.
Child sexual grooming comments Bolt was widely condemned by child protection advocates who stated that he had minimised the seriousness of child
sexual grooming during a segment on his Sky News show on 18 February 2020. Bolt repeatedly used the phrase "hit on" to describe the sexual grooming of a Year 9 school boy by his athletics coach at
St Kevin's College, Melbourne. Child welfare advocate Katrina Lines said "There is no consensual social situation in which it would be OK for an adult to 'hit on' a child. The adult was grooming the child and building an emotional connection so they could do what they wanted to him". The abused school boy later stated that Bolt and
Gerard Henderson's comments made him feel "sick" and accused the pair of "trivialising" the assaults. Bolt and Henderson apologised for their comments in the subsequent days.
Climate change In 2021, Bolt opposed the News Corp campaign to publicise the effects of climate change as 'rubbish'. Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive, Kelly O'Shanassy, commented that Bolt has "no credibility" on climate change. ==Books by Bolt==