Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case resumes in the Federal Court after a week of bombshell revelations. Follow our rolling coverage.
Antoinette Lattouf’s unlawful termination case resumes in the Federal Court after a week of bombshell revelations. Follow our rolling coverage.
Hello, and welcome back to our coverage of the Antoinette Lattouf v ABC trial in the Federal Court.
I am Calum Jaspan. We’re into the second week of Lattouf’s unlawful termination case in the Federal Court.
If you’re just catching up, Lattouf was sacked three days into a five-day casual contract as a fill-in presenter on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023.
Lattouf is arguing she was unlawfully terminated, that her political opinion and race played a role in the decision, and that the ABC breached its enterprise agreement by doing so.
Buttrose says she was familiar with the ABC’s editorial policies “when they arose”.
“I think impartiality is the core business of the ABC,” Buttrose says.
Boncardo presses Buttrose on her understanding of the ABC’s editorial policies, including how they apply to journalist’s conduct outside of their work at the broadcaster.
“What is your occupation?” Ian Neil, SC, asks Ita Buttrose.
“I’m a journalist,” the former chair responds.
Buttrose confirms that the day-to-day management of the ABC is allocated to the managing director.
“As a journalist, you are trained to not take things put to you about a person or an event at face value?” Lattouf’s barrister Philip Boncardo asks Buttrose.
“No,” she responds, meaning that a journalist would be expected to investigate or interrogate assertions made about a person or event before concluding their view on said person or event.
The former chair of the ABC, Ita Buttrose, has now entered the witness box. She is set to be cross-examined, with Lattouf’s legal team alleging she was one of three key decision-makers behind the sacking.
That brings to an end Steve Ahern’s appearance, as he is dismissed from the witness box.
Justice Rangiah briefy adjourns the court before our next witness, former ABC chair Ita Buttrose, is called to give evidence.
Ahern and Justice Rangiah are discussing the directive supposedly given to Lattouf, and whether that meant not posting anything relating to the Israel-Gaza war, or not posting anything controversial relating to the Israel-Gaza war.
“I communicated to Elizabeth [Green, ABC Radio Sydney content director] that following Chris Oliver-Taylor’s [ABC content chief] email that there shouldn’t be anything controversial, there shouldn’t be anything that would suggest she’s not impartial. That was the substance of our conversations,” Ahern tells the court.
Asked a hypothetical question by Lattouf’s barrister Philip Boncardo as to whether posting about a ceasefire would be considered controversial, Ahern said any single post by Lattouf about the Israel-Gaza war would have to be considered in the context of her other posts about the conflict.
Rangiah again asks Ahern to clarify what instruction he gave Green to give to Lattouf.
In the same email, Lattouf asked Ahern how her dismissal had reached The Australian so quickly, as she had been approached for comment. Ahern did not answer this question.
And with that, Ahern’s cross-examination has come to an end, Boncardo says.
Before we move onto the next witness, Justice Rangiah is clarifying a few points with Ahern.
Ahern told Lattouf her Human Rights Watch post had breached the ABC’s social media policy, he confirms, after some back and forth with Lattouf’s barrister, Philip Boncardo.
After Lattouf asked how it had breached the policy, Ahern said the post had called the ABC’s impartiality into question, the court is told.
While both ABC Radio Sydney’s acting manager Mark Spurway and Lattouf’s line manager Elizabeth Green apologised to Lattouf while she was leaving, Ahern did not say anything, the court is told.
Ahern confirms he did not respond to an email Lattouf sent later that day, asking several further questions and seeking clarification about why she was dismissed.
“It’s a question I could have easily answered. If I wanted to, is another question altogether,” Ahern tells the court.
Steve Ahern is again being asked about the meeting with Antoinette Lattouf on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, when he informed Lattouf she would not be required to complete her final two shifts with ABC Radio Sydney.
After being informed, Lattouf said to Ahern she had been told she could post on her social media accounts if the content came from a reputable source. This goes back to evidence we heard last week about conversations between Lattouf and content director Elizabeth Green.
The pair agreed Lattouf could post factual information from reputable sources, Lattouf told the court.
Green confirmed this was true, during the meeting.
“Yes, that’s right, I said that,” Green said, which Ahern confirms.
We’re back from lunch, and Steve Ahern is back in the witness box. Ahern was formerly ABC Radio Sydney manager, and at the time of Lattouf’s employment, was head of the ABC’s capital city network.
Steve Ahern did not know the full context of the Lattouf decision when he informed her she would not be completing her two remaining shifts, he says.
Ahern, a former ABC radio executive, refrained from telling Lattouf she had breached ABC policies during a meeting with her on December 20 because he did not want to say something that was potentially inaccurate, he says.
And with that, the court has adjourned for lunch until 2.15pm.
There should be around 15 more minutes of Ahern’s cross-examination after lunch, before former ABC chair Ita Buttrose is called to the witness box.