Latest news with #SydneyMornings
The Guardian
26-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Antoinette Lattouf v ABC hearing live: closing arguments in high-stakes court battle underway
Amanda Meade The events that brought Lattouf and ABC to this point Antoinette Lattouf, a 41-year-old freelance journalist, lost her job in December 2023 after she shared a Human Rights Watch post about the Israel-Gaza war while employed in a casual role for ABC Radio. After she was dismissed, three days into a five-day casual contract hosting ABC's Sydney Mornings, she took her case to the Fair Work Commission. The ABC argued at the commission that Lattouf was not sacked because she was paid for the full five days of her contract, but the commission found she was sacked, paving the way for her to pursue an unlawful termination case in the federal court. The evidence in chief was heard over seven days earlier in the month, and after a short break the parties return today to present their final submissions. On Monday 18 December Lattouf presented her first show on Mornings from 8.30am to 11am. After lunch, the ABC managing director, David Anderson, sent a number of emails to executives asking them to investigate the multiple complaints he was getting about Lattouf's employment and to provide advice. The complaints were not about the broadcast but about the ABC hiring someone who was critical of Israel's conduct in Gaza. The court was told Anderson wrote in an email: 'Can we ensure that Antoinette is not and has not been posting anything that would suggest she is not impartial', setting off a chain of events leading to this high-profile trial. According to Lattouf's statement of claim, the complaints were 'sent by members of Lawyers for Israel and Jewish Creatives and Academics' and 'sought to pressure the ABC to … terminate the employment of the applicant'. The former ABC chair Ita Buttrose said in her affidavit she 'did not recognise or know of any of the names of the persons from whom I received complaint emails, although, from their names, I assumed that many of them were of a Jewish background'. The issue for me was not whether Ms Lattouf was pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli. Rather, the issue was that Ms Lattouf appeared to be an activist in relation to the Israel-Gaza conflict, which was a serious and contentious matter of concern in the community, regardless of which side of that conflict she was an activist for. I do not support the hiring of activists of any cause to the ABC. At the beginning of the trial Justice Darryl Rangiah granted a suppression order on the names of the individuals in those groups. The hearing kicks off with the applicant's closing submissions listed for two hours, followed by the respondent's closing before and after the lunch break. If the parties don't get through their submissions today the court will sit again on Friday. The former ABC chair Ita Buttrose leaves the federal court after giving her evidence in the Antoinette Lattouf hearing. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP Share Hi, I'm Nino Bucci, and I'll be watching day eight of the Antoinette Lattouf v ABC unlawful termination claim. Over today and possibly Friday we will hear the closing arguments from both sides. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10.15am and is live streamed on the federal court's YouTube channel. When final submissions have been made Justice Darryl Rangiah will retire to consider his verdict. Share
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Ita Buttrose claims ‘inconsistencies' in ABC boss David Anderson's affidavit in Antoinette Lattouf case
Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose has pointed to alleged 'inconsistencies' in David Anderson's affidavit for a federal court case, citing differing details of where and when the outgoing managing director told Buttrose that Antoinette Lattouf had been sacked. In an explosive letter to ABC lawyers seen by Guardian Australia, Buttrose last week urged the ABC to tell Lattouf's lawyers about the alleged inconsistencies in Anderson's version of events as set out in his affidavit. The affidavit was filed in court in Lattouf's unlawful termination case against the ABC which returns for closing arguments on Thursday. Guardian Australia does not suggest that Anderson's testimony in the federal court case was anything but his honest recollection of events that took place in late 2023. Buttrose in her letter demanded the ABC contact Lattouf's lawyers 'as a matter of absolute urgency' and, if they failed to do so, she said she would 'take the appropriate action'. The evidence Buttrose refers to is an invoice from a hire car company which transported the chair and the managing director to a Christmas lunch on Wednesday 20 December 2023 – which she claims suggests that Anderson's affidavit was contradictory. It was the same day that Lattouf was told she would not be returning for the final two days of the ABC radio show she was hosting. Phone calls and texts were flying between Anderson and the ABC's content chief, Chris Oliver-Taylor. When Anderson left for the lunch Lattouf had not yet been removed. A casual broadcaster, Lattouf was dismissed from hosting ABC's Sydney Mornings program in December 2023 and later brought an unlawful termination case before the federal court. 'In the interests of transparency and our legal obligations to do so, the invoice from 'Corporate Cars Australia' must be provided to Ms Lattouf,' Buttrose writes in Thursday's letter, adding a deadline of 2pm on Friday. The ABC does not appear to have taken any action in response to Buttrose's letter. The publicly available court file does not show any documents having been filed by the ABC since it received Buttrose's letter. According to Buttrose, she was picked up at home on 20 December 2023 and driven in the hire car to pick up Anderson at the ABC's Ultimo headquarters. Buttrose points to Anderson's affidavit where he states the two met at the ABC Ultimo office 'outside her office on Level 14 to travel to lunch together'. 'Clearly, Mr Anderson was not having a conversation with me on Level 14 at Ultimo, when I wasn't even in the building,' Buttrose wrote to the ABC's lawyers last week. She also highlights his account of a conversation he had with Buttrose in which she said words to the effect of 'we're just going to have to agree to disagree' that management had decided to keep Lattouf on air until Friday. Buttrose alleges 'no such conversation ever took place; and this is corroborated with irrefutable evidence which the ABC now has'. A conference call with the ABC's legal department on 18 February 'discussed evidence [Buttrose] had that completely refuted Mr Anderson's affidavit', according to the letter. 'I then emailed that evidence to everyone in this group,' Buttrose said. 'That evidence being, an invoice from 'Corporate Cars Australia' that showed that at 12:10pm on 20 December 2023, a car picked me up from my home address in Redfern; and at 12:30pm, that car pulled up to the front of the ABC offices at Ultimo.' Buttrose's alleged inconsistencies do not appear to be material to the case. The federal court has heard that Lattouf was sacked while Anderson and Buttrose were at lunch and Oliver-Taylor told the managing director initially via text of his decision, which was then conveyed to Buttrose. Buttrose disputes Anderson's version of events about how the matter unfolded. She disputes Anderson's recollection that after the lunch Anderson had a conversation with Oliver-Taylor about Lattouf's sacking 'as he travelled in a taxi back to the ABC offices'. 'He was, in fact, in a hire car with me,' Buttrose said in her seven-page letter. Buttrose said the hire car invoice shows they left the restaurant at 3pm and Anderson was dropped back at the office first – before she was driven home. In his affidavit sworn in October 2024, and released by the federal court, Anderson states he rang Oliver-Taylor back during lunch and was told 'we have decided we need to take her [Lattouf] off the air'. Anderson said 'immediately after hanging up from the call with Mr Oliver-Taylor, I informed Ms Buttrose about the conversation'. In her October 2024 affidavit released by the court, Buttrose states: 'I do not now recall the discussions that Mr Anderson and I had during the course of lunch on 20 December … I do not recall whether we discussed Ms Lattouf.' He further states that after the lunch he assisted Buttrose to her hire car and then got a taxi back to the ABC. 'During my taxi ride back to the office, I called Mr Oliver-Taylor, and (to the best of my recollection) we had a conversation' where Oliver-Taylor provided more details including the allegation that Lattouf 'posted on social media against instructions'. An ABC spokesperson declined to comment on the substance of Buttrose's letter. 'The matter is before the court and it would be inappropriate for the ABC to comment while proceedings are under way,' he said. Buttrose declined to comment. Final submissions in the unlawful termination case are scheduled to be heard on Thursday and Friday before justice Darryl Rangiah retires to consider his verdict.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Yahoo
Man arrested over email to ex-ABC host
A man in his 60s has been charged with sending a 'harassing, racially charged email' that 'called for violence and harm' to well-known journalist Antoinette Lattouf. Ms Lattouf took to social media on Tuesday to reveal she went to police late last year after she received a 'harassing, racially charged email from a man I'd never met'. 'It wasn't even the most vile or threatening message I'd received, even though it called for violence and harm,' the presenter wrote. 'But I was exhausted. Frustrated. And I thought: I shouldn't have to cop this. That day, I'd had enough. So I reported it.' Months later, NSW Police called and said they had identified the alleged perpetrator and wanted to place him under arrest. Ms Lattouf said she 'hesitated' before making a statement to police about the alleged harassment. 'Should I go through with this? Was I scared enough? Unsafe enough? Was I worthy of police resources? Women are conditioned to endure hate and harassment. Women of colour, even more so,' she wrote online. 'Maybe he was having a bad day. Maybe he thought it was funny.' However, the journalist said she was swayed by a 'disturbing' observation from a sergeant that 'generally speaking, (people) who are violent to women in person almost always start online'. According to NSW Police, a 61-year-old man was arrested at a house in Lake Cathie, south of Port Macquarie on the NSW North Coast, before 7am on Tuesday. He was charged with using a carriage service to menace/harass/offend. Ms Lattouf welcomed the news of the arrest in her social media post. 'Also, if you're copping this abusive sh** online, report it. You shouldn't have to put up with it. We shouldn't normalise it. And as for police resources? L'Oreal it up, babes – yep, you're worth it,' she posted. The arrest comes after a legal battle between Ms Lattouf and the ABC has made headlines in the past two weeks. The former ABC presenter is suing her former employer over allegations she was unlawfully dismissed when she was sacked from her final two shifts while filling in as the host of ABC's Sydney Mornings in December 2023.
The Guardian
12-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pressure to remove Antoinette Lattouf came from ‘higher up' and before she made Instagram post, court hears
There was pressure from 'higher up' in the ABC to sack Antoinette Lattouf from the very first day she was on air, Lattouf's line manager has told the federal court. Elizabeth Green, the ABC manager who had approached Lattouf for the temporary hosting role, told the court she had 'tried to stop them' from firing Lattouf but that 'there was pressure coming from higher up'. Even before Lattouf made the social media post that ABC managers say was the catalyst for her dismissal, Green said that 'there was pressure from the Monday to get rid of Ms Lattouf'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A casual broadcaster, Lattouf was dismissed from hosting ABC Radio's Sydney Mornings program in December 2023, after a coordinated campaign of complaints about her being on air, because of her views on the Israel-Gaza conflict. Lattouf has brought an unlawful termination case before the federal court, which has seen a succession of ABC senior managers called to give evidence, and revealed the corporation's internal debate about Lattouf's 'managed exit' and its institutional reputation 'damage control'. Ostensibly, Lattouf was dismissed for a single post on social media, allegedly in breach of a direction from her managers – which she disputes – but the court heard Wednesday the pressure to take her off-air preceded her post. Lattouf began hosting the Sydney Mornings radio program on Monday 18 December 2023. On Tuesday 19 December she reposted a post on Instagram from Human Rights Watch which reported the Israeli military was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Independently, the ABC also reported on the HRW finding. After the program aired on Wednesday 20 December, Lattouf was told she would not be hosting the final two mornings of her contract and told to leave the ABC. She had not discussed the war in Gaza during any of her three programs. An affidavit from Chris Oliver-Taylor, the chief content manager of the ABC, said: 'Ms Lattouf had not complied with an instruction or direction not to post anything during the week in which she was engaged with the ABC that would suggest that she was not impartial in relation to the Israel-Gaza war.' But Elizabeth Green, Lattouf's line manager and then ABC Radio Sydney's content director, said there was pressure from Lattouf's first day on air for her to be removed. Green told the court she saw Lattouf in a state of distress after she was sacked and told her she 'had tried to stop them'. She said she was sorry Lattouf had been dismissed. In a conversation the pair had in a board room, Green told Lattouf there was 'pressure coming from higher up'. 'I said there was pressure for her to be removed from the Monday. I believed it was coming from higher up. I understood it had been referred up,' Green told the court. 'There was pressure from the Monday to get rid of Ms Lattouf.' Oliver-Taylor's affidavit stated that he believed Lattouf had been instructed not to post on social media for the duration of her contract to present on-air for the ABC. But both Green and Lattouf say, in their discussion, it was agreed Lattouf could post information that had a factual basis and came from credible, verified sources or from reputable organisations. Under cross-examination, Green told the court she had cautioned Lattouf about 'being mindful about posting on social media' and to uphold the ABC's obligations to impartiality. Green told the court she told Lattouf the ABC had 'strict editorial guidelines' and it was 'all about a perception of bias'. 'I was doing what I was instructed to do, which was to tell [Lattouf] to keep a low profile on social media.' Green told the court she had told other ABC managers she 'did not see anything wrong' with Lattouf's post. Within the ABC, there was initially resistance to removing Lattouf from her on-air position, with some managers cognisant it would appear as though the public broadcaster had acquiesced to a partisan, coordinated lobbying campaign. Oliver-Taylor said in an internal email that 'the blowback will be phenomenal' if Lattouf was fired. He recommended the ABC keep her on air until Friday, when her contract ended. Following Green into the witness box, the ABC's head of audio, Ben Latimer, told the court he was not sure Lattouf had breached editorial policies which he knew to refer only to material broadcast by the ABC. The case, before Justice Darryl Rangiah, continues.
