Lattouf barrister points finger at Ita Buttrose in unlawful termination feud

Four ABC executives including the broadcaster’s then-chair Ita Buttrose had a hand in the decision to axe Antoinette Lattouf on radio over her views on the Israel-Gaza war, the freelance journalist’s barrister has told the Federal Court.

Lattouf’s costly and protracted unlawful termination case against the national broadcaster entered its final days on Thursday as her barrister Oshie Fagir delivered closing submissions in Sydney.

Antoinette Lattouf with solicitor Josh Bornstein (left) and barrister Philip Boncardo on Thursday.Credit: Nick Moir

Lattouf was abruptly removed as fill-in host of the Sydney Mornings radio program in December 2023, three days into a five-day casual contract. She is suing the ABC, alleging it terminated her employment unlawfully and that her political opinion and Middle Eastern race played a role in its decision.

Lattouf claims the ABC bowed to pressure from pro-Israel lobbyists in removing her. The broadcaster had received complaints about her appointment because of her long-standing views about the Israel-Gaza war, the court has heard.

‘The decision makers’

Fagir alleged that ABC managing director David Anderson and Buttrose were both involved in the decision to dismiss Lattouf, as were the ABC’s chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, and its head of audio content, Ben Latimer.

“We say that Mr Anderson and Mr Oliver-Taylor were decision makers in the conventional sense that they exercised authority to dismiss Ms Lattouf, and that Ms Buttrose and Mr Latimer were decision makers in the broader sense … being people who materially influenced the decision to dismiss,” Fagir said.

The four key people in the Antoinette Lattouf case, according to her barrister: David Anderson, Ita Buttrose, Ben Latimer, and Chris Oliver-Taylor.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald

Fagir submitted that Anderson was a decision maker because he had a “right of veto” over Oliver-Taylor’s call to remove Lattouf, but he did not exercise it. This amounted to “an approval”, he said.

Buttrose brought “pressure” to bear on Anderson and Oliver-Taylor, Fagir said, including by emailing both of them, and “her conduct had a material effect on the ultimate outcome”.

“Ms Buttrose’s attitude never wavered at any point,” he said.

Fagir said the “group of campaigners” was also “materially influential”.

During a defiant stint in the witness box this month, Buttrose told the court that she did not want Lattouf taken off-air and “didn’t put pressure on anybody”.

She said an email in which she asked Anderson if Lattouf had been replaced and said she was “over getting emails about her” was a request for an update.

Fagir said Lattouf was sacked about 48 hours after the complaints against Lattouf started rolling in.

“It’s said she’s sacked because it was thought she’d breached a direction [not to post about the Israel-Gaza war on social media], and she may have breached a policy,” Fagir said.

“It is pellucidly clear, in my respectful submission, that no direction was given.”

The ABC maintains that Lattouf was not sacked. The broadcaster says her contract ended as planned after five days on December 22, 2023, but that she was not required to present the final two shows.

She was paid in January 2024 for all five shifts.

On December 19, 2023, a day before her removal, Lattouf had shared a post critical of Israel from non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch on Instagram. She added the caption: “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war.”

Oliver-Taylor texted Anderson on December 20 that Lattouf “failed to follow a direction from her producer not to post anything whilst working with the ABC”.

He told Anderson he had “no option but to stand her down”.

‘Game over for the ABC’

But Fagir submitted that, if the evidence of Lattouf’s line manager, Elizabeth Green, was accepted, it was “game over for the ABC” because Green told the court she had said in a call with colleagues that she had “not given any ‘directive’ to Ms Lattouf” about posting on social media.

At the time of Lattouf’s removal from the airwaves, Green was ABC Radio Sydney’s content director. She is now executive producer of its Drive program.

“I explained that I had had ‘spoken with’ or ‘had a word with’ Ms Lattouf and advised her against posting on social media while she was presenting Mornings, but that I did not consider my conversation with Ms Lattouf about posting on social media to have been a ‘direction’,” Green said in an affidavit.

Green gave evidence that she had told Lattouf it was “best not to post anything that would be considered controversial while you’re with us”, but if “something is fact based and from a verified source, I am sure it would be fine”.

Fagir submitted that the court could be “comfortably satisfied” that Oliver-Taylor and Latimer knew that no explicit direction had been given.

But Justice Darryl Rangiah noted there was “no direct evidence that Ms Green’s statement that she had not given a direction was communicated to Mr Oliver-Taylor”.

The ABC will deliver its closing submissions on Friday.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.