By Michaela Whitbourn
The ABC has been ordered to pay a penalty of $150,000 to Antoinette Lattouf for unlawfully terminating her Sydney radio contract after a judge found it “let down the Australian public badly” by capitulating to pro-Israel campaigners.
The sum is in addition to $70,000 in compensation that Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah ordered the national broadcaster to pay Lattouf after delivering his principal decision on June 25.
Antoinette Lattouf and one of her barristers, Philip Boncardo, outside the Federal Court in Sydney earlier this month.Credit: Sam Mooy
Rangiah said in his penalty decision, delivered in Brisbane on Wednesday, that the ABC had chosen to “surrender to the lobbyists’ political campaign by sacrificing” Lattouf. He ordered the ABC to make the payment to Lattouf within 28 days.
“The ABC is seen as an important public institution at a time when trustworthy sources of news and information are increasingly hard to find,” Rangiah said.
“In the course of this proceeding, the ABC made much of its board’s statutory duty to ensure impartiality.
“However, the ABC’s conduct in surrendering to the demands of the pro-Israel lobbyists … ignored the equally important statutory obligation of maintaining its independence and integrity. The ABC let down the Australian public badly when it abjectly surrendered the rights of its employee … to appease a lobby group.”
In a statement ahead of the decision, Lattouf said the ABC had spent “well over $2 million of taxpayer money fighting me”.
“Whatever the penalty, for me this was never about money – it’s always been about accountability and the integrity of the information our public broadcaster gives us.”
ABC managing director Hugh Marks said the matter “was not handled in line with our values and expectations, and Ms Lattouf, our staff and the public were let down”.
“We take the matter seriously and have reflected on the lessons learnt and their implications. We must be better.
“I would like to reiterate the ABC’s sincere apology to Ms Lattouf and wish her all the best in the future.”
Lattouf’s legal team had argued for a penalty of up to $350,000. The ABC submitted a penalty of up to $56,340 would be “just and appropriate”, based on its view that the maximum penalty available was $187,800.
Rangiah said in his decision on Wednesday that the ABC was exposed to “a theoretical maximum of $375,600”.
He said the ABC had demonstrated “limited contrition for the broader effects of its unlawful actions on Ms Lattouf”, and noted it had failed to investigate the source of a leak to The Australian about her removal from radio.
“The ABC’s capitulation in the face of political pressure means that a penalty of sufficient weight must be imposed to deter the ABC … when it is confronted with similar pressures in the future,” the judge said.
Lattouf was removed as a fill-in host of ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program in December 2023 after sharing a post critical of Israel from non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch on social media with the caption: “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war.”
In his decision in June, Rangiah found the ABC sacked Lattouf to “appease … pro-Israel lobbyists” because “she held political opinions opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza”.
He made a declaration that the broadcaster breached the Fair Work Act by sacking Lattouf for reasons including her political opinion and by contravening its enterprise agreement in failing to give her an opportunity to respond to allegations against her.
Rangiah found Lattouf was “merely provided with advice that it would be best not to post anything controversial about the war”, rather than being directed not to post on social media.
He said on Wednesday that the ABC was “caught between the campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists, its statutory obligation of impartiality, including the appearance of impartiality, and Ms Lattouf pouring fuel on the fire by making a social media post that was obviously going to be controversial”.
“The ABC’s response was to surrender to the lobbyists’ political campaign by sacrificing Ms Lattouf,” he said. “It did so for spurious reasons and without giving Ms Lattouf the opportunity to defend herself.”
The broadcaster had received complaints about Lattouf’s appointment before that social media post because of her views about the war, which were not expressed on radio.
Lattouf was sacked about 48 hours after the complaints started, three days into a planned five-day hosting stint.
At 8.39pm on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, the ABC’s then-chair, Ita Buttrose, had emailed the then-managing director, David Anderson: “Has Antoinette been replaced. I am over getting emails about her.”
Lattouf was removed from the air the next day by Chris Oliver-Taylor, the ABC’s then-chief content officer.
Rangiah said the pressure applied to Oliver-Taylor by Buttrose and Anderson contributed to his “panicked decision” to sack Lattouf. However, the judge said he did not think the pair could ultimately be held responsible for that decision.
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