First Nations journalists brace for voice referendum coverage they can’t tap out of

Two ABC First Nations journalists, Bridget Brennan and Isabella Higgins, say there were internal barriers to telling Indigenous stories. Photograph: ABC

Stan Grant may have dominated the headlines but two other First Nations journalists who have been covering Indigenous affairs at the ABC since 2017 say it’s been “a long road of systemic racism, ignorance, and personal challenge”.

On Saturday Bridget Brennan, a Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta woman, and Isabella Higgins, a Torres Strait Islander, will join the broadcaster’s voice correspondent, Dan Bourchier, in presenting ABC TV’s coverage of the results of the referendum, an event which has been particularly painful for Indigenous journalists to cover.