‘Hindsight is a wonderful thing’: ABC boss admits missing steps in Lattouf sacking

ABC managing director David Anderson has conceded the public broadcaster did not seek appropriate advice from its people and culture department before sacking Antoinette Lattouf.

Anderson’s highly anticipated appearance in the witness box capped the third day of Lattouf’s unlawful termination case against the ABC. In two hours of intense cross-examination, he admitted there was a “step missing” in the way the broadcaster handled her exit, and that she may have been denied the right to respond to a proper process.

ABC managing director David Anderson leaves Federal Court on Wednesday.Credit: Louise Kennerley

“I think there’s a step in the middle of a discussion with Ms Lattouf and to ensure that they’ve sought the right advice from employee relations and people and culture as part of that decision. I’m not entirely sure how adequate that was at the time.”

Pressed by Lattouf’s barrister, Oshie Fagir, whether that step was, in fact, an investigation, Anderson said: “Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You would like to have seen that there was certainly a discussion with Ms Lattouf, to find out the motivation behind, what I believed at the time, was disobeying direction,” Anderson said.

Anderson, who steps down as ABC managing director at the end of the month after six years in the job, was also forced to defend the broadcaster’s inconsistent handling of controversial comments made by its high-profile stars both publicly and on social media.

After long build-up and questioning from Fagir over the ABC’s editorial and employee policies, Anderson was forced to account for the ABC’s responses and handling of comments made by some of the ABC’s most public-facing figures, and for comments they had made either in public or on social media that could be considered either impartial or controversial.

This included comparing Lattouf’s Instagram post on December 19, 2023, where she reposted the same Human Rights Watch report the ABC had itself reported the night before, and over which she was ultimately sacked. When presented with the ABC’s own story, Anderson said the headline of the broadcaster’s digital report did not breach its impartiality guidelines.

Fagir brought examples of comments made by senior ABC journalists Laura Tingle, John Lyons, Paul Barry and Patricia Karvelas, as well as highly publicised remarks made by chair Kim Williams in October over the federal opposition’s energy policy plans.

The third day of the unfair dismissal case, which covered significant ground, began with the ABC’s opening arguments delivered by its barrister Ian Neil, SC. He took the court through the chronology of the case, from Lattouf’s engagement to her dismissal, after he quipped Lattouf’s team had jumbled it and “omitted salient events”.

He also revealed emails sent by former ABC radio executive Steve Ahern, who said Lattouf was hired as part of the ABC’s “diversity policy”.

Complaints about Lattouf’s presence on ABC Radio Sydney began hours after her first show, Neil said.

Radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Neil reaffirmed the ABC’s position that Chris Oliver-Taylor was the “sole decision maker” in removing Lattouf, rather than former chair Ita Buttrose or Anderson. Anderson appeared to back up this position later in the day.

“I think if Mr Oliver-Taylor had his time over again, he might have sought additional advice from other people before he made his decision,” Anderson said.

Lattouf initially took the public broadcaster to the Fair Work Commission after she was sacked in late 2023, three days into a five-day contract hosting a radio show in Sydney. It has since snowballed into a crisis for the ABC.

She has claimed, in part, this was due to expressing political opinion and racial discrimination.

Following up on comments made by Fagir on Monday that the ABC would argue Lattouf “has not proven there is a Lebanese, Arab or Middle Eastern race”, Neil went on to clarify the ABC “does not deny the existence of any race”.

The ABC also took issue with the suggestion that any complaints made about Lattouf, including those made by what Lattouf’s team have characterised as being from pro-Israel lobbyists, had any significance on the decision or the case.

Neil said the documentary evidence showed “the focus of each of those people was the perception of partiality, to which Lattouf’s social media activity had or might reasonably give rise, and the management of the risks for the ABC and its statutory obligations of impartiality”.

Anderson will return when the hearing resumes on Thursday.

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