Ita Buttrose calls in ABC lawyers in Antoinette Lattouf case

She was one of the star witnesses but what caused Ita Buttrose to hold an emergency teleconference with ABC lawyers can be revealed.

Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose has contacted lawyers for the national broadcaster claiming her part in radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf’s dismissal has been recounted inaccurately in court proceedings.

News.com.au has learned an emergency teleconference meeting was convened between Ms Buttrose and lawyers from Seyfarth Shaw Australia, who are representing the ABC, last Tuesday.

At the meeting Ms Buttrose, who did not retain lawyers for her court appearance and was not subpoenaed, laid out her concerns about some of the evidence presented in the case brought by Ms Lattouf after the radio presenter was sacked three days into her five day contract in 2023 for sharing a Human Rights Watch post about the war in Gaza to social media.

The new concerns relate to conversations Ms Buttrose allegedly had with ABC executives concerning Ms Lattouf’s dismissal on December 20, 2023.

Ita Buttrose leaving the Supreme Court of NSW after she gave evidence in the Antoinette Lattouf case. Picture: Jonathan Ng

In a letter to the ABC’s lawyers dated Thursday February 20, which legal sources have revealed to News.com.au, Buttrose refers to an emergency teleconference meeting she had with the ABC’s lawyers on Tuesday February 18.

At that meeting the experienced board director and veteran journalist “discussed evidence I had that completely refuted” claims made.

As the court has heard, Ms Buttrose had lunched with the ABC managing director at Pitt Street restaurant Luke’s Kitchen on the day Ms Lattouf was sacked.

Ms Buttrose last week handed to the ABC lawyers evidence which she says proves a conversation involving a fellow ABC heavyweight could not have occurred on December 20 as she was not in the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters that day.

The evidence is a receipt from Corporate Cars Australia which she says shows she was travelling in a hire car from her home in Redfern to collect Mr Anderson for lunch.

Ms Buttrose signs off from her letter to legal firm Seyfarth Shaw requesting the receipt be forwarded to Ms Lattouf’s legal team.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson leaving the Federal Court after giving evidence. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

On Friday a spokesman for Ms Lattouf’s lawyer Josh Bornstein said no new correspondence had been received from the ABC’s lawyers.

Ms Buttrose’s actions this week suggest she feels her role in Ms Lattouf’s dismissal has been misrepresented within the ABC.

Comment was on Friday sought from Ms Buttrose and the ABC in relation to Buttrose’s allegations.

An ABC spokesman issued the following statement: “The matter is before the court and it would be inappropriate for the ABC to comment while proceedings are underway.”

The former ABC chair told the Federal Court earlier this month that she played no role in Ms Lattouf’s sacking.

Antoinette Lattouf and her barrister. Picture: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

“I didn’t wish her to be removed,” Ms Buttrose said.

“I didn’t put pressure on anybody. It’s a fantasy … I have nothing to do with her dismissal.”

The ABC’s managing director David Anderson earlier this month told the federal court the decision to take Ms Lattouf off air had been made by ABC head of content Chris Oliver-Taylor.

Mr Oliver-Taylor had made the call after the ABC’s audio boss Ben Latimer discovered Ms Lattouf’s Human Rights Watch post of December 19.

Mr Oliver-Taylor told the court he had been under “pressure from above” to act and replace Ms Lattouf and confirmed receiving emails from Ms Buttrose, the ABC chair, the day prior to sacking the radio presenter.

However Ms Buttrose told the court she had forwarded the emails on to Mr Oliver-Taylor at Mr Anderson’s request because it was “the procedure that I’d followed for five years with no complaints from anyone.”