SBS reporter Scott McIntyre sacked for anti-Anzac tweets right to sue

An SBS reporter sacked after an anti-Anzac Twitter tirade has won the right to sue the broadcaster.

Scott McIntyre, who on Anzac Day tweeted that he was “remem­bering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these ‘brave’ Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan”, was fired the next day by SBS.

An SBS reporter sacked after an anti-Anzac Twitter tirade has won the right to sue the broadcaster in the Fair Work Commission, with the industrial umpire citing the freedom of speech that Diggers “fought for”.

Scott McIntyre, who on Anzac Day tweeted that he was “remem­bering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these ‘brave’ Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan”, was fired the next day by SBS.

The Fair Work Commission yesterday granted McIntyre the right to bring a case against SBS under unfair termination laws.

“Wonder if the poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers pause today to consider the horror that all mankind suffered,” McIntyre tweeted at 5.39pm on April 25.

Further tweets referring to the horrors of Hiroshima and the ­behaviour of Diggers “in various theatres of war” followed, Commissioner Ian Cambridge said in his decision published yesterday.

Then communications minister Malcolm Turnbull, in a tweet soon after 9pm on Anzac Day, condemned McIntyre’s com­ments.

“Difficult to think of more offensive or inappropriate comments than those by @mcintinhos. Despicable remarks which deserve to be ­condemned,” he tweeted.

McIntyre who had worked as a reporter at SBS for almost seven years, was sacked on April 26 on the grounds that he “breached the SBS Code of Conduct and social media policy”.

When his attempt to sue on the basis he was sacked for his political opinion failed, he brought his case under unfair ­termination laws. SBS objected, claiming McIntyre had run out of time to make a fresh complaint. Commissioner Cambridge said: “I have decided that exceptional circumstances exist such that the time for the making of the application should be extended.”

McIntyre, he added, “simply seeks to have his day in court”.

Echoing criticism of SBS at the time of the sacking, Commissioner Cambridge said: “It is ­perhaps sadly ironic that many members of the Australian ­Defence Force lost their lives in the earnest pursuit of the ­protection of rights and freedoms such as the access to a fair hearing which the applicant is entitled to obtain.”

He also observed “the public controversy regarding the applicant’s social media comments on Anzac Day and his subsequent dismissal have understandably introduced an elevated level of tension between the parties in ­respect to the litigation involving challenge to that dismissal.”

McIntyre’s lawyers at Maurice Blackburn claimed SBS “took ­action without a proper investi­gation and consideration of all ­relevant issues”.

SBS declined to comment.