Antoinette Lattouf wins unlawful termination case against the ABC, awarded $70,000 compensation

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf has been awarded at least $70,000 after the Federal Court found she was unlawfully terminated by the ABC. The case was brought on after the journalist was taken off air three days into a five-day casual stint as an ABC Radio Sydney presenter in December 2023. Ms Lattouf addressed the media outside court, surrounded by supporters.

Transcript

00:00Justice Darrell Rangia stepped through the key questions that he assessed when ruling

00:07in favour of Antoinette Latouf in this unlawful termination case against the ABC. The first

00:12question, and one of the biggest ones of the trial, was whether she was terminated for

00:17legal purposes. She was taken off air part way through a five-day radio presenting stint

00:22with the ABC in December 2023. The ABC argued that it reserved the right to vary her tasks

00:28and her hours down to nil within that contract, but her lawyers argued that it was quite significant

00:35to the contract itself, that she was a broadcaster and should be enabled to broadcast as part

00:41of that contract. The judge said that he was more convinced by the argument by Latouf's

00:48lawyers in that question and ruled in Antoinette Latouf's favour in that respect. In the question

00:54of whether she was taken off air due to her race, he found that he wasn't convinced that

01:00the decision makers had consideration for her race or national extraction when making the

01:05decision, but then assessed the second component of that claim about her political opinions

01:10and stepped out to consider, well, why was she terminated and what was the mindset of the

01:16decision maker who he found to be Chris Oliver-Taylor in making that decision? And the question was

01:22whether Chris Oliver-Taylor took her off air because she breached a direction given to her

01:27not to post about the war during the contract, or whether there was a campaign by what her

01:34lawyers argued were pro-Israel lobbyists to influence upper management at the ABC and pressure decision

01:41makers to take her off air. And the judge found in the latter and awarded $70,000 of compensation

01:48to Antoinette Latouf. And what's been her reaction to this? Well, within the court, when that was

01:54announced, supporters of Antoinette Latouf cheered and applauded. Outside the court, Antoinette Latouf

02:01herself made a short statement. She spoke about her experience along this quite lengthy legal process

02:07and also spoke about the ongoing suffering in Gaza. In December 2023, I shared a Human Rights Watch post,

02:15because Human Rights Watch found that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

02:22It is now June 2025, and Palestinian children are still being starved. We see their images every day,

02:32emaciated, skeletal, scavenging through the rubble for scraps. This unspeakable suffering is not accidental,

02:42it is engineered. Deliberately starving and killing children is a war crime. Today, the court has found

02:51that punishing someone for sharing facts about these war crimes is also illegal. I was punished for my

03:02political opinion. I won't be taking any questions. I'll have more to say in due time. Thank you.

03:10Now, her lawyer, Josh Bornstein, also addressed the media as well. He was very critical of the ABC

03:18and argued that it had folded from the top down. You will recall that after the decision to sack

03:25Latouf, the ABC board unanimously backed its management. So this decision, this unlawful decision,

03:34goes right to the top of the ABC.

03:38Well, we've now heard from ABC management. What did they have to say?

03:42Well, the managing director of the ABC, the current managing director, Hugh Marks, issued a statement

03:47earlier today issuing a direct apology to Antoinette Latouf. He was also interviewed here on the ABC as well,

03:55and made some other statements. He said that correct process wasn't followed in this matter and that bad consequences

04:03or negative consequences came from that. He acknowledged the significant cost to the broadcaster in litigating this,

04:09and he said that many millions of dollars have been spent that shouldn't have been spent.

04:15He also claimed the ABC wanted or would have ideally have liked to settle this matter earlier.

04:22There was a settlement offer on the table last year in which there was a settlement figure of around $80,000.

04:29But the ABC's managing director argued that that was essentially too late in the process to be considered,

04:38and it was taken to the trial. He also said that he didn't believe that change was necessary

04:47in terms of the processes themselves at the ABC, but it should be the processes that are followed

04:52that should create better outcomes. Here's what he had to say.

04:55I don't think there's any change that's needed. I think the process is clear. There is defined separation between management,

05:04between the conduct of the organisation and external forces. And look, at the end of the day,

05:09the proof will be in the pudding about how we act on that basis going forward. You know,

05:13our obligations are to ensure fairness, impartiality in our reporting and our coverage.

05:18Now, looking ahead, Justice Dal Rangia pointed to the possibility of a hearing on penalties or pecuniary

05:27penalties against the ABC, which can be applied for organisations that breach the Fair Work Act.

05:33These are quite complex legal matters, again, to be assessed. So, this matter is far from finished today.

Category

Transcript

Recommended