Key events
Day eight begins
And we’re off! Court has just started.
Amanda Meade
The events that brought Lattouf and ABC to this point
Antoinette Lattouf, a 41-year-old freelance journalist, lost her job in December 2023 after she shared a Human Rights Watch post about the Israel-Gaza war while employed in a casual role for ABC Radio.
After she was dismissed, three days into a five-day casual contract hosting ABC’s Sydney Mornings, she took her case to the Fair Work Commission.
The ABC argued at the commission that Lattouf was not sacked because she was paid for the full five days of her contract, but the commission found she was sacked, paving the way for her to pursue an unlawful termination case in the federal court.
The evidence in chief was heard over seven days earlier in the month, and after a short break the parties return today to present their final submissions.
On Monday 18 December Lattouf presented her first show on Mornings from 8.30am to 11am. After lunch, the ABC managing director, David Anderson, sent a number of emails to executives asking them to investigate the multiple complaints he was getting about Lattouf’s employment and to provide advice.
The complaints were not about the broadcast but about the ABC hiring someone who was critical of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
The court was told Anderson wrote in an email: “Can we ensure that Antoinette is not and has not been posting anything that would suggest she is not impartial”, setting off a chain of events leading to this high-profile trial.
According to Lattouf’s statement of claim, the complaints were “sent by members of Lawyers for Israel and Jewish Creatives and Academics” and “sought to pressure the ABC to … terminate the employment of the applicant”.
The former ABC chair Ita Buttrose said in her affidavit she “did not recognise or know of any of the names of the persons from whom I received complaint emails, although, from their names, I assumed that many of them were of a Jewish background”.
The issue for me was not whether Ms Lattouf was pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. Rather, the issue was that Ms Lattouf appeared to be an activist in relation to the Israel-Gaza conflict, which was a serious and contentious matter of concern in the community, regardless of which side of that conflict she was an activist for. I do not support the hiring of activists of any cause to the ABC.
At the beginning of the trial Justice Darryl Rangiah granted a suppression order on the names of the individuals in those groups.
The hearing kicks off with the applicant’s closing submissions listed for two hours, followed by the respondent’s closing before and after the lunch break.
If the parties don’t get through their submissions today the court will sit again on Friday.
Welcome
Hi, I’m Nino Bucci, and I’ll be watching day eight of the Antoinette Lattouf v ABC unlawful termination claim.
Over today and possibly Friday we will hear the closing arguments from both sides.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10.15am and is live streamed on the federal court’s YouTube channel.
When final submissions have been made Justice Darryl Rangiah will retire to consider his verdict.
