
Ita Buttrose's emails ‘hammering' top ABC executives instrumental in Antoinette Lattouf's sacking, court hears
Ita Buttrose's emails 'hammering' executives with complaints about Antoinette Lattouf's social media presence were influential in her sacking, the federal court has heard in closing submissions.
Lattouf's barrister, Oshie Fagir, argued the former chair was one of four ABC figureheads who played a pivotal role in the removal of the casual host from air, including the formal decision-maker, Chris Oliver-Taylor, the chief content officer at the broadcaster.
Fagir said Buttrose's 'attitude never wavered at any point' and her 'conduct had a material effect on the ultimate outcome'. He said Buttrose considered Lattouf an activist who should never have been hired.
'The reason that she gave for sending the emails … was to teach Mr Oliver Taylor a lesson, I'm paraphrasing, 'to make him feel some pain, because he was responsible for this untenable position'.'
During her testimony, Buttrose told the court that the managing director, David Anderson, said she should forward the emails to Oliver-Taylor to teach him the 'folly' of hiring people without adequate checks.
Fagir spent Thursday summing up the the applicant's argument in the unlawful termination case and Friday will see the ABC's reply.
'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 [audio head Ben] Latimer were decision-makers in the broader sense … being people who materially influence the decision to dismiss,' Fagir said.
Fagir said Lattouf's Human Rights Watch post was a 'pretext' for moving against her and it was an 'utterly abnormal' move for Oliver-Taylor to make.
'Mr Oliver-Taylor latched on to the post as a pretext to deliver that which he knew the managing director and the chair wanted,' Fagir said.
Lattouf was let go after three days into a five-day fill-in stint on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program when she shared the post that said Israel had used starvation as a 'weapon of war' in Gaza.
As well as the pressure from Buttrose, Oliver-Taylor was subjected to Anderson 'demanding assurances that a situation like this never arises again', and there were threats of disciplinary action against the executive who hired Lattouf, Steve Ahern.
'And he uses [the Human Rights Watch post] as a pretext to deliver what he wanted and what the organisation want too,' Fagir said.
Fagir argued that the ABC's reasoning, 'in relation to the direction and the potential breach of policy makes absolutely no sense'.
Lattouf denies she was banned from posting on the Gaza conflict while working at the ABC.
Fagir said the applicant's case is that she was sacked for her political opinion on Gaza and was given 'no direction' by the ABC not to post about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
'Ms Lattouf was removed from air … not only [because] she held and manifested particular views, but that she did so in circumstances where she herself was of Lebanese heritage. We absolutely maintain and urge the court to find that Ms Lattouf's race was a reason for her dismissal.'
Under the Fair Work Act an employer may not take adverse action against an employee because of their political opinion or race.
Fagir said Lattouf was hired to present a light show and 'as soon as she appears on air, she is the subject of a lobbying campaign, the purpose of which is to remove her from air'.
Fagir said the court should give no heed to the evidence of Oliver-Taylor as he was a witness of 'no credit' and there was no material that supported his evidence that Lattouf was given a 'direction' not to post.
Oliver-Taylor 'knew that no direction had been given to Ms Lattouf not to post anything controversial about the Israeli-Gaza conflict', Fagir said.
Instead, Justice Darryl Rangiah should accept the evidence of Lattouf's line manager, Elizabeth Green, and if he did accept her evidence it is 'game over for the ABC'.
Fagir said it was Green's evidence that Lattouf was not given an explicit direction not to post at all on social media about the Israel-Gaza war during her planned five-day stint on ABC radio.
Fagir said the question of whether Lattouf was given a 'directive' by ABC bosses not to post on social media, which she then breached by sharing the Human Rights Watch post, or if it was merely suggested to her that she 'keep a low profile' on social media was central to the case.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BreakingNews.ie
23 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Greta Thunberg says she was kidnapped by Israeli forces in international waters
Greta Thunberg on Tuesday accused Israel of kidnapping her and her fellow pro-Palestinian activists in international waters, saying she declined to sign a document stating she entered the country illegally prior to being deported. Speaking in the arrivals section of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport after being deported from Israel, the Swedish activist said she and her team had broken no laws, and called for the immediate release of the activists still in Israel. Advertisement "I was very clear in my testimony that we were kidnapped on international waters and brought against our own will into Israel," she said. She laughed off criticism from US president Donald Trump, who had described her as an angry person, saying: "I think the world needs a lot more young angry women to be honest, especially with everything going on right now." World Greta Thunberg deported from Israel after Gaza-bou... Read More Thunberg (22) arrived in Paris a day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Israeli forces boarded the charity vessel as it neared Gaza early on Monday, trying to break through a years-old naval blockade of the coastal enclave, and seized the 12-strong crew, including Thunberg. Thunberg denied her mission to deliver aid to Gaza by breaking through a years-old naval blockade of the coastal enclave was a PR stunt, saying a previous effort in a larger boat was ended after the vessel was bombed. She said she was now in desperate need of a shower and sleep. She admitted it was unclear where she would be heading next, telling reporters it could be Sweden.


Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
There are no ‘journalists' in Gaza. Just Hamas propaganda operatives
Britain and the world's views of the rights and wrongs of the Gaza war are so often shaped by what the BBC reports. That's mattered more than ever in recent weeks, amid the feverishly heated coverage of Israel's new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) scheme to deliver aid to the Palestinian people and bypass allegedly Hamas-controlled NGOs. Hamas-linked sources claim Israeli soldiers have repeatedly shot and killed Palestinian civilians waiting for GHF food with their families. Stories bearing the bylines of BBC 'journalists' in Gaza largely tell this version of events, albeit including the denials of the IDF. News organisations using Gazan reporters say they have no choice, given the IDF's refusal to allow in outside journalists. But that's no reason not to exercise care and employ the same editorial standards as they would on any other story. For critics of the BBC, the results have been a disaster for the Corporation and its standards. They point to the stories that have not been told, or have been largely overlooked, by these reporters almost throughout the war: of Hamas's tyranny over the people of Gaza, its torture and murder of opponents, and of the courageous Palestinians who defy its rule. And why is there such scant coverage of Hamas using the civilian population as a human shield by placing tunnels under civilian buildings and military bases in hospital? Where are the stories of Israeli hostages being moved across Gaza? Why is there no footage of Hamas firing rockets or their gunmen on the move? There is an obvious answer: it appears that these reporters are either pro-Hamas, or too afraid of reprisals from terrorist gunmen to tell the truth. It is a charge that BBC Global News Director Jonathan Munro entirely rejects. Almost spluttering in disbelief recently at the suggestion that 'some of the people you're using in Gaza might be under pressure, might be restricted in what Hamas allows them to see,' resulting in a 'partial view', he insisted: 'There's no restriction on what they can see, what they can show and what they can film when they're on location. 'There's no suggestion at all that any of those very brave people are under any political influence.' Munro's denial shows an astonishing disregard for the well-documented reality of life in Gaza. Take a recent report from the well regarded NGO the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It tears apart the notion that press freedom exists in Gaza. According to the CPJ, journalists there have been subject to 'detentions, assaults, obstruction and raids' going back to the start of Hamas rule almost twenty years ago. While detailing numerous violent assaults on members of the press in Gaza, the analysis warns that violations by Hamas are 'underreported'. Some journalists who have been assaulted are believed to be too afraid to say anything at all; others have gone to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) but say they do not want to go public for fear of retaliation. Note that both the CPJ and PJS are the staunchest critics of Israel. There can be no doubting the credibility and accuracy of their accounts on this matter. The picture they paint is light years removed from Munro's suggestion of unencumbered press freedom in Gaza. Some of the journalists in Gaza used by the BBC have been exposed as having deeply hateful views of Israel and Jews, making them entirely unsuitable as journalists. Yet there is a problem that goes far beyond any individual, if Munro and other executives cannot understand the reality of reporting from Gaza. TV producer Leo Pearlman has proposed the solution: 'The BBC make a huge deal of adding to every news script from Gaza by saying that Israel doesn't allow independent access for journalists. 'What it never says – and maybe should start doing – is that no journalist can operate freely in Gaza under Hamas control.'


Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
US issues sanctions against charities supporting Hamas, PFLP
WASHINGTON, June 10 (Reuters) - The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday targeting individuals and sham charities that it said were prominent financial supporters of the Palestinian groups Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The individuals and groups targeted were funding Hamas' military wing under the pretense of doing humanitarian work, in Gaza and internationally, the Treasury Department said. The Treasury said it will continue to seek disruptions to the financial capabilities of Hamas, which still holds hostages it seized in the group's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The entities sanctioned included the Gaza-based Al Weam Charitable Society, the Turkey-based Filistin Vakfi, the El Baraka Association for Charitable and Humanitarian Work, which is based in Algeria, the Netherlands-based Israa Charitable Foundation and the Associazione Benefica La Cupola d'Oro, based in Italy, the department said in a statement. The five individuals targeted on Tuesday were leaders associated with the groups, it said. "Today's action underscores the importance of safeguarding the charitable sector from abuse by terrorists like Hamas and the PFLP, who continue to leverage sham charities as fronts for funding their terrorist and military operations," Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender said in the statement. Hamas and PFLP have a long histroy of abusing non-profit organizations and charities, the Treasury said.