Former ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s lawyer accused of ‘bald-faced lies’

A stinging court claim has lashed Antoinette Lattouf’s high-profile lawyer over matters relating to another case.

A high-profile lawyer acting for former ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf has been accused of telling “bald-faced lies” about a client in a separate case.

Victorian County Court documents claim Maurice Blackburn employment lawyer Josh Bornstein “colluded” with Labor MP Andrew Leigh to act against his client’s instructions.

The pair were accused in court documents of attempting to stop independent MP Andrew Wilkie from releasing 17,000 Hillsong financial documents.

Text messages sent by Mr Leigh would be part of the case if it went to court, documents claimed.

The claims were part of a stinging 36-page defence from former Hillsong staffer Natalie Moses against Mr Bornstein’s claim that she owes him $135,000 in legal fees.

Mr Bornstein had agreed to act for the first time on a no-win, no fee basis for Ms Moses in her battle against the church.

Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Bornstein outside the Federal Court of Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie

However, he dropped Ms Moses as a client just hours after Hillsong financial documents were tabled in parliament in March last year.

Ms Moses then reached a settlement with Hillsong within weeks after hiring a new lawyer.

The former bookkeeper claimed that Mr Bornstein had spoken to Mr Wilkie about her case without her consent while she was away camping in September 2022.

Mr Wilkie had intended to make a speech about Hillsong in parliament earlier that month but sittings were suspended following the Queen’s death.

Mr Bornstein then told the MP, against Ms Moses’ instructions, that she no longer wanted to make a whistleblower disclosure, she claims in court documents.

“How dare Josh do that. I cannot believe my own lawyer would go behind my back,” she told her husband following a phone call with a junior Maurice Blackburn lawyer on September 27, 2022, according to notes in her court claim.

“Literally tell bald face lies about me not wanting to make a whistleblower disclosure anymore. I am incredulous that he could possibly think that was OK. Isn’t my lawyer supposed to work for me.”

Natalie Moses.

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf is being represented by Josh Bornstein. Picture: Instagram

Mr Wilkie had been told by Labor in October 2022 that he would not be given permission to release the Hillsong documents.

“This caused Ms Moses to form the view that Mr Leigh had used the confidential information given to him by Mr Bornstein about Ms Moses and her parliamentary whistleblowing intentions, to work with other ALP Ministers to stop the Hillsong whistleblower information becoming public,” Ms Moses claimed.

“As such, Mr Bornstein colluded with Mr Leigh to help him do that.”

Mr Bornstein had “aggressively instructed” Ms Moses on March 7 last year to stop Mr Wilkie from tabling the Hillsong documents, which made national headlines.

Mr Leigh, the court documents claim, had tipped off Mr Bornstein about plans to release them.

Andrew Wilkie in Parliament House. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Andrew Leigh was seen in a conversation about the tabling of Hillsong documents. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Ms Moses spoke to the MP on March 8 but asked him to keep the discussion confidential.

He tabled the documents at 1pm the next day.

Mr Leigh was seen in the Federation Chamber having a heated conversation with a colleague who had “failed to stop” the release of the documents, the defence statement claims.

The court documents claim that an MP has text messages from Mr Leigh that state Mr Bornstein had told him that Ms Moses did not want to table the documents.

“These text messages will be subpoenaed for the court trial, along with all text messages and phone logs between Mr Bornstein, Mr Leigh, and the independent MP,” the defence states.

Mr Bornstein had claimed that his mediation work for Ms Moses had allowed her to get a settlement with a new lawyer.

He had sent her a detailed bill for $176,000, which has been revised down to $135,000.

Maurice Blackburn has previously denied any wrongdoing.

“We have always acted in your best interests and have not been motivated by any other factor,” Mr Bornstein said in the letter to Ms Moses.

Mr Bornstein has been a prominent lawyer in Melbourne for decades.

He has been issuing press releases through his firm about his case with Ms Lattouf against the ABC for her dismissal following controversial social media posts.

Mr Bornstein also previously defended Wayne Carey, arguing that a substance that fell out of his pocket in Perth’s Crown Casino was to treat a football injury.

Originally published as Former ABC journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s lawyer accused of ‘bald-faced lies’