ABC to hit back as Antoinette Lattouf trial enters final day

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ABC to hit back as Antoinette Lattouf trial enters final day

Antoinette Lattouf’s blockbuster trial has entered its final day, with the ABC to deliver its closing submissions as it fights the journalist’s claim she was unlawfully terminated.

Ms Lattouf sued the ABC after she was sent home midway through a five-day casual shift hosting Radio’s Sydney Mornings program in December 2023 following a slew of email complaints about her stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

She was sent home – and told she wouldn’t be completing her final two shifts – after she shared a post by Human Rights Watch on

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The ABC has argued that she was sent home after defying a directive not to post to social media about the war.

However, her lawyers argue she was given no such direction following her first shift.

Camera IconAntoinette Lattouf has sued the ABC for unlawful termination. NewsWire/Monique Harmer. Credit: News Corp Australia

‘PRETEXT’

Ms Lattouf’s barrister Oshie Fagir on Thursday told the court that ABC managing director David Anderson and then head of content Chris Oliver-Taylor made the decision to sack Ms Lattouf.

He further argued that then ABC chair Ita Buttrose and head of audio content Ben Latimer were also influential in the decision.

He pointed to an email sent by Mr Oliver-Taylor to Ms Buttrose in which he said the ABC had been “left in an untenable position”.

He said at the time Ms Buttrose was “hammering” Mr Oliver-Taylor with emails and demanding assurances, as The *********** newspaper was asking questions about Ms Lattouf’s employment.

He said Mr Oliver-Taylor then used Ms Lattouf’s social media post as an excuse to get rid of her.

“It’s in the context of that influence and pressure being exerted by the managing director and the chair, this issue materialises and he uses that as a pretext to deliver what he wanted and what the organisations wanted,” Mr Fagir said.

The ABC argues that Ms Lattouf was not sacked but rather her employment ended at the conclusion of her five-day contract.

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ABC chair Ita Buttrose described Ms Lattouf an ‘activist’. NewsWire/Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia

‘ACTIVIST’

Ms Lattouf’s lawyers have argued the ABC failed to follow the terms of its enterprise agreement when Ms Lattouf was sent home.

Under the agreement, any person who is alleged to have committed serious misconduct must be notified in person.

Her lawyers argue it was a “clear example” of termination, noting she was employed as a content creator and taken from the air for her final two shifts.

During her evidence to the court earlier this month, Ms Buttrose described Ms Lattouf as an “activist” owing to her pro-************ posts on social media.

Ms Lattouf’s lawyers have highlighted similarly politically charged and partisan messages expressed by other ABC personalities, including Laura Tingle, who last year told a writers festival: “We are a racist country, let’s face it.”

Mr Fagir argued that labelling her an activist was proof Ms Buttrose had an existing hostility to Ms Lattouf’s political opinion.

“Whenever it’s suggested that Ms Lattouf is an activist or an advocate, and the label is not applied to Ms Tingle, Ms (Patricia) Karvelas, that involved a judgment on the relative merits of the opinion,” Mr Fagir said.

“The fact that Ms Lattouf’s opinions are labelled controversial and contentious, and she is labelled an activist or an advocate, itself is an indication of a prior hostility to the opinions which she holds.”

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