Antoinette Lattouf wins unlawful termination case against ABC

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Journalist Antoinette Lattouf has won her unlawful termination case against the ABC and has been awarded an initial 70-thousand dollars in compensation. The judge found the ABC contravened the 'Fair Work Act' by terminating Ms Lattouf's employment for reasons including her political views opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Transcript

00:00Justice Daryl Rangier this morning stepped through some key questions that he had to

00:06answer to get to the conclusion which he made in ruling in favour of Antoinette Latouf in

00:11this matter.

00:12The first big question was, was Antoinette Latouf terminated for legal purposes?

00:18The ABC argued that her employment contract was not terminated for legal purposes because

00:26they reserved the right in that contract to scale back her hours or her duties to nil

00:31and that's what they decided on the third day of her five-day stint as a casual radio

00:36presenter in 2023.

00:39Antoinette Latouf's lawyers argued that it was quite material to her contract and to her

00:44duties that she was a broadcaster and that her duty of broadcasting was no longer required.

00:51Therefore they argued that she was effectively terminated.

00:54So that was the first hurdle that Justice Daryl Rangier had to confront in this and he ruled

01:00in favour of Antoinette Latouf's side on that.

01:02The next big question that he had to answer was that if Antoinette Latouf was terminated,

01:07why was she terminated?

01:10Her lawyers argued that there was a concerted campaign against her for her political opinions

01:17by a group of what her lawyers argued were pro-Israel lobbyists who lobbied senior ABC executives,

01:23and that pressure was then applied down the line to have her taken off air.

01:29Whereas the ABC argued that she was taken off air because she breached a direction not to post

01:34anything on social media during her contract with the ABC.

01:38Now, throughout the trial, the judge heard evidence particularly about that matter from Antoinette

01:44Latouf and from her direct manager.

01:46That testimony was that she was advised not to post as opposed to explicitly directed and

01:53that there was an acknowledgement that she could post from reputable sources.

01:56So while Justice Rangier found that she posted that Human Rights Watch post on the Tuesday night

02:02without a real sort of consideration for the impact of her employer, but he ruled that it wasn't

02:09actually a breach of an explicit direction, and he sided with Antoinette Latouf's lawyers

02:15on that question.

02:16And then that brought him to the conclusion that she had been unlawfully terminated on

02:20the basis of her political opinion and awarded her $70,000 in damages.

02:26Now, that's where the legal proceedings have got to this point.

02:29Then comes the question of potential pecuniary penalties, which could be up to almost $100,000.

02:35And that's the maximum in these sort of cases.

02:39And they could be awarded to be paid either to the Commonwealth or to Antoinette Latouf herself.

02:44OK, interesting.

02:45That's still to come.

02:46What was the reaction from Ms Latouf?

02:48Well, when the decision was announced in the federal court in Sydney today, Antoinette

02:53Latouf's supporters in the room cheered and applauded that outcome.

02:58Speaking outside the court, Antoinette Latouf herself made a brief statement.

03:01She didn't take any questions, but she spoke about the lengthy legal process to this point

03:07and also spoke about the ongoing suffering in Gaza.

03:10In December 2023, I shared a Human Rights Watch post because Human Rights Watch found

03:17that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

03:21It is now June 2025 and Palestinian children are still being starved.

03:29We see their images every day, emaciated, skeletal, scavenging through the rubble for scraps.

03:38This unspeakable suffering is not accidental.

03:42It is engineered.

03:45Deliberately starving and killing children is a war crime.

03:47Today, the court has found that punishing someone for sharing facts about these war crimes

03:57is also illegal.

04:00I was punished for my political opinion.

04:04I won't be taking any questions.

04:07I'll have more to say in due time.

04:09Now, Antoinette Latouf's solicitor, Josh Bornstein, who's worked with her throughout this legal

04:15process, also spoke.

04:17He was particularly scathing of ABC's management.

04:20He said the organisation essentially folded from the top down.

04:24You will recall that after the decision to sack Latouf, the ABC board unanimously backed its

04:32management.

04:33So, this decision, this unlawful decision, goes right to the top of the ABC.

04:40So, Sean, what have we heard from the ABC management?

04:43Well, the ABC's current managing director, Hugh Marks, issued a statement earlier today

04:48that contained a direct apology to Antoinette Latouf.

04:52It also contained comments along the lines of that the correct processes in this matter

04:58weren't followed, and that led to negative outcomes.

05:01The managing director also acknowledged the cost to the broadcaster of litigating this matter.

05:07He said that many millions have been spent that shouldn't have been spent.

05:11He also claimed that the ABC had wanted to settle this matter earlier on, that it would

05:16have ideally done so.

05:17So, we know that there was a settlement offer made last year to the tune of around $80,000.

05:23But the matter still progressed to trial.

05:27So, he also, when asked, said that he didn't believe that there needed to be change at the

05:33ABC in terms of the processes in place, but he believed that those processes should be

05:38better followed.

05:38I don't think there's any change that's needed.

05:42I think the process is clear.

05:44There is a defined separation between management, between the conduct of the organisation and

05:50external forces.

05:51And look, at the end of the day, the proof will be in the pudding about how we act on

05:56that basis going forward.

05:57You know, our obligations are to ensure fairness, impartiality in our reporting and our coverage.

06:02So, now Antoinette Latouf's legal team have argued, have indicated that they will press

06:08forward with those pecuniary penalties.

06:12So, that'll be another lengthy and complicated legal process to come.

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