Channel Seven, Sunrise host Samantha Armytage and commentator Prue MacSween are being sued for racial vilification over a 2018 segment on the breakfast show Sunrise.

The decision to take the complaint to the Federal Court was made after discussions at the Australian Human Rights Commission crumbled.

The lawsuit was lodged by Susan Moriarty and Associates on behalf of Aboriginal Elder Aunty Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor that the show was “abhorrent, vile, and racist”.

The court case stems from a discussion in March 2018 where the panel, which included Armytage, MacSween and radio host Ben Davis, suggested a second stolen generation was needed to help Aboriginal children.

“Post-Stolen Generation, there’s been a huge move to leave Aboriginal children where they are, even if they’re being neglected in their own families,” Armytage said in the segment.

Armytage then claimed that white families are unable to foster Indigenous children, which was an incorrect statement.

“Don’t worry about the people who decry and hand-wring and say this will be another Stolen Generation,” MacSween commented.

“Just like the first Stolen Generation, where a lot of children were taken because it was for their wellbeing, we need to do it again, perhaps.”

MacSween also said that removing Indigeneous children from their families was “a no-brainer” and that there’s a “conspiracy of silence and fabricated PC outlook that it’s better to leave them in this dangerous environment”.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) later announced the segment breached the TV code of practice as it “provoked serious contempt on the basis of race”.

The lawsuit also outined that Channel 7 has already been sued for the segment by members of the Yirrkala Aboriginal community who were “featured in unrelated file footage during the segment”.

A Channel 7 spokesperson said that the network has not yet seen the lawsuit.

“Although we don’t disbelieve the reports,  Seven  is not aware of any actual claim being filed at this stage — so is not able to comment on this action.

“If and when anything is filed, we will review and take the appropriate steps.”

“Seven settled the original matter in late 2019 in the Federal Court with the Yirrkala community and the Yolngu families and offered an unreserved apology on air shortly after.”