Antoinette Lattouf v ABC as it happened: Broadcaster withdraws race argument; Steve Ahern, Ita Buttrose set to appear as unlawful termination case continues

Boncardo puts one final assertion to Buttrose: that it was her idea to forward the complaints to Chris Oliver-Taylor. She says it was David Anderson’s idea.

And with that, Ita Buttrose’s cross-examination comes to an end.

Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose leaves the Supreme Court on Tuesday.Credit: James Brickwood

Tomorrow will see the final day of evidence, with Elizabeth Green (Lattouf’s line manager), Ben Latimer (ABC’s head of audio), and Simon Melkman (then-acting editorial director) set to appear.

Thank you once again for joining us.

“I want to put these propositions to you. You wanted my client replaced. That is, you wanted her fired, and you sought to use your position as chair to prevail upon Mr Anderson and Mr Oliver-Taylor to replace her,” says Lattouf’s barrister Boncardo.

Buttrose rejects this assertion and other assertions that she wanted Lattouf removed for her views on Israel and Israel’s war on Gaza, and because she was a pro-Palestinian activist and a human rights activist.

“The evidence you have given, in respect to those denials, is untrue,” Boncardo says.

“I have told the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” Buttrose says.

Lattouf’s team has submitted a new piece of evidence, containing an email sent by Buttrose to Anderson the afternoon Lattouf was dismissed.

“It’s nice to get congratulatory emails”, Buttrose wrote to Anderson, forwarding a complaint from a member of the public, thanking her and the ABC board for firing Lattouf.

“They’re few and far between,” says Buttrose of congratulatory emails.

“I didn’t wish her to be removed. I didn’t put pressure on anybody. It’s a fantasy of your own imagination. I have nothing to do with her dismissal,” Buttrose asserts.

Buttrose sent complainants further emails, informing them that Lattouf “no longer worked at the ABC” on the day she was dismissed, December 20, 2023. These emails were unprompted, the court heard.

She did this “in the interests of efficiency”, Buttrose says, so that Oliver-Taylor did not have to inform them directly himself.

Buttrose spent 30 minutes emailing complainants, Boncardo says.

ABC’s Laura Tingle.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

During the correspondence between Buttrose and high-profile ABC journalist and staff-elected board director Laura Tingle, Tingle registered her “deep concern at the public debate that is unfolding over Antoinette Lattouf”.

Tingle was corresponding with Buttrose about a potential “farewell speech” at the National Press Club.

“I made some inquiries yesterday and it is still not at all clear to me exactly what specifically led to her being removed, and/or who took the decision,” Tingle said to Buttrose.

“Did he tell you that The Australian were going to do a story about it?” Boncardo asks.

“No, he didn’t,” Buttrose says.

“You were aware on the 20th of December that there was interest from The Australian in Ms Lattouf’s engagement?”

“No, but The Australian are always interested in the ABC,” Buttrose says.

“I want to suggest to you that you had taken it upon yourself to forward these complaints to Mr Oliver-Taylor [ABC chief content officer], to make it clear to him that you were displeased about Ms Lattouf’s continued engagement on air,” Philip Boncardo, Lattouf’s barrister, says.

“That’s not correct,” Buttrose replies. “I simply forwarded them on … for him to deal with, which is the procedure that I’d followed for five years with no complaints from anyone.”

Buttrose is now asked about the lunch she had with David Anderson at Luke’s Kitchen in Sydney on December 20. While the lunch meeting occurred, the decision to take Lattouf off air was made by Oliver-Taylor.

She says this was the pair’s Christmas lunch, during which they “tend not to talk about work”.

Buttrose says she was unaware that Anderson received a call from Oliver-Taylor during this lunch.

“David told me that in the car on the way back after lunch. I think it’s fair to say he was as surprised as I was,” Buttrose says.

Buttrose had “no idea” about the co-ordinated WhatsApp campaign pushing for Antoinette Lattouf to be taken off-air, she says.

Philip Boncardo, Lattouf’s barrister, reads out an email sent to David Anderson by Buttrose, in which he warned there could be a perception the ABC had caved to pro-Israeli lobbying if they were to prematurely stand down Lattouf.

Buttrose alleges Lattouf’s team has been trying to make the inference that the ABC caved to pro-Israeli lobbying. Boncardo objects to this suggestion and asks if Buttrose has watched any of the proceedings to date.

She has not, she says.

Buttrose says she explained to David Anderson her perspective that the ABC should be “damage control” over Lattouf’s presence on air, instead of a “managed exit”, as he had told her in email correspondence.

She says she meant they should be “looking after the people” who felt Lattouf was not being impartial.

While Buttrose rejects the suggestion she was hostile towards Lattouf, she reaffirms correspondence at the time stating the ABC owed her nothing.

“She was a five-day casual,” says Buttrose. “Some people look on the ABC as a cash cow. We’re not a cash cow.”

Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose (left) affirmed her view that the ABC didn’t owe Antoinette Lattouf anything as she was employed as “a five-day casual”.Credit: Janie Barrett, Edwina Pickles

Again, she suggests Lattouf needed to “save face” because it looked like she was going to lose her job.

“I’ve been in the media for a very long time. I’ve seen these situations before,” Buttrose says, adding Lattouf’s prospects did not look good because “she obviously upset the listeners of the ABC, and we were looking into it”.