The ABC doesn't need Andrew Bolt to debate Indigenous recognition | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Wed, 09/12/2015 - 1:21pm

There are plenty of Indigenous people who could argue the case against a new constitutional settlement instead of a white, rightwing columnist

So, the ABC is turning the complex, divisive issue of constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians into a reality TV show featuring Andrew Bolt.

The 55-minute show has been commissioned by the ABC and funded by Screen Australia. The national broadcaster apparently believes pitting Bolt (anti) against Linda Burney, Labor’s deputy leader in the New South Wales parliament, a proponent of constitutional recognition (whatever that may be) in a “provocative one-off documentary”, is an incisive way into the complexities of the “Recognise” debate.

Recognition does not, at present, seem likely to address questions that burn at the heart of Australian nationhood