Complaints to the ABC about Antoinette Lattouf revealed

Details of the complaints made to the ABC about Antoinette Lattouf have been revealed in former chair Ita Buttrose’s statement to the Federal Court.

Complaints about Antoinette Lattouf began flooding in to ABC executives within two hours of her completing her first shift on air, court documents have revealed.

Ms Lattouf has sued the ABC in the Federal Court, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed after she was sacked from her final two shifts while standing in as host of Sydney Mornings in December 2023.

Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose appeared as a star witness for the national broadcaster this week as part of a blockbuster trial.

In an affidavit which was publicly released by the court on Thursday, Ms Buttrose said she noticed on Monday, December 18, that a “high volume” of complaints had begun rolling in.

That day Ms Lattouf was on air from 8.30am until 11am.

And within two hours of her hanging up her headphones, complaints had begun to trickle in.

Antoinette Lattouf sued the ABC for unlawful dismissal. Picture: NewsWire/Gaye Gerard.

Ita Buttrose appeared as a star witness for the ABC. Picture: NewsWire/Nikki Short.

Redacted copies of the complaints were included in Ms Buttrose’s sworn affidavit.

One complaint, which landed in the inbox of the ABC board at 12.51pm said: “I am writing with concerns regarding Antoinette Lattouf hosting the morning ABC Sydney show.

“Antoinette is not impartial on the war in the Middle East and her content on Instagram is blatantly antisemitic and hateful.”

The identities and details of those who complained to the ABC cannot be revealed due to an order of the court.

Many of the complaints were in similar language and raised a Crikey article she had authored about an Opera House protest and the ABC’s editorial guidelines requiring impartiality.

“I am writing to express my deep concern about the presence of Antoinette Lattouf on the ABC,” one said.

“This is federal government radio and it is my belief that her views, particularly those related to the Middle East conflict, are not impartial and thus not in the best interests of the general community in Sydney.”

Another described her as “biased and vitriolic”

The email, from the afternoon of December 18, continued: “My 12-year-old son commented to me with great insight ‘I have always thought of myself as a Jewish Australian. However facing extraordinary levels of antisemitism, I now very much see I am an Australian Jew. Maybe this country is not safe for us’.”

Antoinette Lattouf’s trial will wrap up in the Federal Court later this month with closing submissions. Picture: NewsWire/Damian Shaw.

ABC chief content officer Christopher Oliver-Taylor. Picture: NewsWire /Jeremy Piper.

Of the complaints, Ms Buttrose said: “The general impression I got from the emails I read was of complaints that Ms Lattouf should not have been hired by the ABC as a presenter because she was a pro-Palestinian activist.”

Ms Buttrose said regardless of which side of the conflict she was on, she did “not support the hiring of activists of any cause to the ABC”.

She raised the issue in a meeting with ABC managing director David Anderson and she said she was left with the impression Mr Anderson thought Ms Lattouf had been hired without proper checks.

She separately began forwarding the complaints to ABC chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor – the person whom the ABC says ultimately made the decision to fire Ms Lattouf.

On the evening of Tuesday, December 19, she forwarded Mr Anderson an email asking if Ms Lattouf had been replaced.

“Has Antoinette been replaced. I am over getting emails about her. Regards Ita,” she wrote.

Mr Anderson replied: “Antoinette will finish up on Friday. It’s a managed exit given the situation. I can explain more tomorrow.”

While Ms Buttrose accepted that Mr Anderson and his staff had “exclusive responsibility” for the decision, she said she “wanted to challenge that decision”.

Ms Buttrose replied at 9.59pm saying: “I have a whole clutch more of complaints. Why can’t she come down with flu? Or Covid. Or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing, we are copping criticism because she wasn’t honest when she was appointed. Managed exit. Really.”

Mr Anderson replied on Wednesday morning saying the ABC was in “damage control” and alleging: “Local Radio management, specifically (Head of Capital City Networks) Steve Ahern” had “made a negligent error of judgement by employing Ms Lattouf without assessing her prior media and social media activity.”

He said the ABC “weighed up” the consequences of pulling from the air, but concluded they couldn’t.

“This protects the ABC (and out staff) from the consequence of removing her, without her having breached any of our standards this week, when her position on the matter was known by Mr Ahern when Ms Lattouf was engaged,” Mr Anderson wrote.

Ms Buttrose said she accepted that Ms Lattouf would remain on air for the remainder of her week-long contract.

However, on Wednesday December 20, she was told by Mr Anderson that Mr Oliver-Taylor had made the decision to terminate Ms Lattouf.

She says she was told it was “because she had disobeyed a direction not to post on social media”.

She said she didn’t make inquiries about what Ms Lattouf had posted or discuss the reasons for his decision.

The trial will return to court on February 27 and 28 for closing submissions.

Originally published as Complaints to the ABC about Antoinette Lattouf revealed