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ABC News
3 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Antoinette Lattouf was unlawfully terminated by the ABC. What happens now?
A judge has ruled journalist Antoinette Lattouf was unlawfully terminated when the ABC took her off the air over 18 months ago — but the high-profile legal saga is not over yet. In his Federal Court judgment on Wednesday Justice Darryl Rangiah also foreshadowed possible further penalties against the national broadcaster. Ms Lattouf was taken off air three days into a five-day stint as an ABC Radio Sydney presenter in December 2023 after sharing a post by Human Rights Watch about the war in Gaza. Justice Rangiah found the ABC contravened the Fair Work Act by terminating her employment, for reasons "including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza". He also concluded external pressure from "pro-Israel lobbyists" played a role in the decision. The judge has concluded that the ABC breached two sections of the Fair Work Act. The first protects employees from discrimination due to their political opinions, and the second entitles them to due process when facing termination. He ordered the ABC to pay Ms Lattouf $70,000 in compensation for non-economic loss, including psychological distress. The judge found that former ABC chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor was the sole decision-maker and former ABC managing director David Anderson made a "material contribution" to the decision. In the wake of the court decision, the ABC's new managing director Hugh Marks acknowledged the court's ruling, describing the matter as "regrettable" and "not handled in line with our values and expectations". Justice Rangiah also ordered that the matter be heard to determine whether the ABC should pay any financial penalty under the Fair Work Act. Speaking outside the court after the judgement, Ms Lattouf's lawyer Josh Bornstein said her team wanted to now ensure this never happens again. "There are multiple contraventions of the Fair Work Act that the ABC's engaged in and we will be seeking significant penalties," Mr Bornstein said. "The ABC's conduct since it illegally sacked Antoinette Lattouf raises real concerns about whether this will happen again if similar bad faith actors make complaints about ABC journalists." Labour law academic Joellen Riley, from the University of Technology Sydney, said pecuniary penalties were common in matters where employers were found to have breached the Fair Work Act. She said the maximum penalty that can be applied to a corporation for unlawful termination was $99,000. "Whenever you find a contravention, some penalty is likely," Professor Riley said. "How much that will be depends on whether it's considered to be an egregious breach or whether people did in fact think they were acting within their rights." She said the judge could decide for a penalty to be paid to either the Commonwealth, or the applicant directly. "Since the Fair Work Act is a no cost jurisdiction the payment of any penalties can help defray the cost that they've covered in bringing the action," she said. She said there was some grounds for costs to be granted if one side had "caused the matter to proceed inefficiently" during the litigation, but that was a high bar. She said pecuniary penalties were in place to deter organisations from breaching their legal obligations. "Having the threat of a penalty being attached … that's the incentive for people to do the right thing," Professor Riley said. She said the act also opens the door for penalties to be applied to individual decision makers in these cases. "You could find that in this case one particular person was decided to be the relevant decision-maker here, maybe there will be some consideration as to whether that individual person also will be subject to penalties." The matter will now be set down for a pecuniary penalty hearing at a later date.
The Independent
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Australian court rules ABC journalist unlawfully sacked over Gaza post
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation unlawfully sacked journalist Antoinette Lattouf after she shared a social media post criticising Israel 's war on Gaza, the Federal Court ruled. The court found the public broadcaster removed Ms Lattouf from air in December 2023 in part because of her political opinions, specifically those on the Israeli military action in the Palestinian territory. Justice Darryl Rangiah said that the ABC contravened the Fair Work Act and awarded Ms Lattouf A$70,000 (£33,400) in damages. He is yet to decide on additional penalties. The court dismissed the claim that Ms Lattouf, who is of Lebanese heritage, was fired due to her race or ethnic background. Ms Lattouf had been contracted as a fill-in presenter on ABC Radio Sydney 's Mornings programme. Just three days in – on 19 December – she reposted an Instagram story from Human Rights Watch alleging Israel had used starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, a claim the Israeli government denied. She was removed from her role within hours. Justice Rangiah found the ABC management reacted to an "orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Lattouf taken off air" and acted hastily without identifying which policy she had violated or allowing her a chance to respond. He said the broadcaster's chief content officer at the time, Chris Oliver-Taylor, acted based on little more than a 'suspicion' that she had broken rules and was motivated by desire to "mitigate the anticipated deluge of complaints and criticism". "Within the hour, a decision was made that Lattouf would be taken off air," Justice Rangiah said, adding that the ABC senior staff were in a 'state of panic'. Criticising the ABC for failing to follow procedure, the judge pointed out that Ms Lattouf was neither warned nor provided an opportunity to defend herself. While the ABC contended that her contract had been paid in full and she was merely taken off air to protect its reputation, the judge rejected this defence. He clarified that Ms Lattouf had not been given a formal directive to avoid commentary on Israel's war on Gaza, only general advice to refrain from making controversial posts. The journalist's removal had sparked a national outcry and internal discontent at the ABC, raising concerns about political pressure and institutional support for culturally diverse staff. It had also led to a debate about editorial independence and freedom of expression within public broadcasting. Israel launched its ongoing war on Gaza after over 1,100 people were killed and 251 taken hostage during a Hamas assault on southern Israel in October 2023. Israeli forces have killed over 55,700 Palestinians so far, including 15,000 children, and left almost the entire population of nearly 2 million displaced from their homes and on the brink of starvation, according to the Hamas-run health ministry and UN agencies. Speaking outside court, Ms Lattouf said she had been 'punished for political opinion'. 'Deliberately starving and killing children is a war crime,' she said. 'Today, the court has found that punishing someone for sharing facts about these war crimes is also illegal.' The ABC, which reportedly spent A$1m (£733,998) defending the case, issued a public apology after the ruling. Its new managing director, Hugh Marks, said the matter 'was not handled in line with our values and expectations'. 'We also let down our staff and audiences and this failure has caused understandable concern among the public and inside the organisation,' he said. He acknowledged concerns over the broadcaster's independence and announced that it had reviewed and replaced its internal guidelines for social media use. 'Any undue influence or pressure on ABC management or any of its employees must always be guarded against,' Mr Marks said. Commenting on the case, legal expert Chris Merritt called the judgment a 'slap in the face' for the ABC leadership and criticised the organisation's internal processes as 'amateurish'. Once a dismissal claim was raised under Australia's Fair Work Act, he told Sky News, the onus was on the employer to prove it was lawful, something the ABC failed to do convincingly. The matter escalated to the Federal Court after a mediation attempt between Ms Lattouf and the ABC failed at the Fair Work Commission earlier this year.
