Ruling shows need for a truly impartial ABC

Sydney Morning Herald

5 hours ago

Antoinette Lattouf's court victory over the ABC has exposed terrible misjudgment by senior management and opened the door to emboldening staff and contracted talent to publicly express political opinions.
Such a development would sit uncomfortably on a public broadcaster that wears impartiality on its sleeve as 'Australia's most trusted source of news and current affairs'.
Justice Darryl Rangiah on Wednesday found that the ABC contravened sections of the Fair Work Act and an enterprise agreement by terminating Lattouf's employment for reasons including that 'she held political opinions opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza'. He ordered the ABC pay $70,000 compensation but rejected allegations that the reasons for termination included her race or national extraction.
Lattouf was removed as a fill-in host of ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program in December 2023 after privately posting Human Rights Watch comment about the Israel-Gaza war on social media. The same story had already been reported by the ABC. She expressed no views while on air. Justice Rangiah said that amid an 'orchestrated campaign of complaints against her by pro-Israel lobbyists', she was dropped three days into a five-day shift.
Lattouf took her case to the Fair Work Commission, which ruled she had been fired, and then to the Federal Court. The case provided entertainment aplenty, with senior ABC executives tripping over themselves. For example, the then ABC managing director David Anderson admitted a 'step missing' in the way the broadcaster handled her exit, and former ABC chair Ita Buttrose emailed senior managers asking 'has Antoinette been replaced? I'm over getting emails about her' before plaintively asking 'why can't she come down with flu? Or COVID. Or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing.'
In his judgment, Justice Rangiah acknowledged concerns surrounding Lattouf's impartiality, saying that, as an employee of the ABC, her private social media post was bound to be controversial. 'It was ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer,' he said. 'It was one thing for the ABC to publish the report as a news story: it was quite another for Ms Lattouf, having already made social media posts complained of as reflecting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views, to repost the story.'
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But the case exposed the ABC's highly stressed culture. Under sustained attack by governments and media rivals, the ABC has walked wounded for a decade, retreating from cultural and light entertainment only to make experienced staff redundant, and instituting a 'star' system that often encouraged personality over reportage. Meanwhile, executives with little public broadcasting experience were hired.
Most ABC executives involved in the Lattouf imbroglio have departed. Buttrose went in early 2024, Anderson and chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor left this year. Former ABC Radio Sydney station manager Steve Ahern, responsible for hiring Lattouf, resigned last year.