A journalist sacked by the ABC after an Instagram post about the Israel-Gaza conflict will return to give evidence as she sues the public broadcaster over her dismissal.
Antoinette Lattouf was hired on a casual basis to present the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney over five days in December 2023.
The Federal Court was told on Monday that a barrage of complaints was sent to the ABC accusing her of bias after she re-posted a Human Rights Watch article accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
The broadcaster’s most senior executives, including then-chair Ita Buttrose, discussed what was referred to as the ‘Antoinette issue’.
‘Has Antoinette been replaced? I’m over getting emails about her,’ Ms Buttrose wrote in one email.
‘Why can’t she come down with flu or COVID or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing.’
While initially no moves were made against Lattouf, mounting pressure from a growing number of complaints triggered her dismissal after three days on air, her barrister Oshie Fagir said.
On Monday in court, Lattouf defended her re-posting of the Human Rights Watch article and and other allegedly ‘controversial’ social media posts, including that Israel had conducted ethnic cleansing and was indiscriminately killing children in Gaza.
Antoinette Lattouf is seeking damages after being taken off air from ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings
‘Why can’t she come down with flu or COVID or a stomach upset? We owe her nothing:’ Ita Buttrose said in an email about Antoinette Lattouf
Under two hours of questioning by ABC’s barrister Ian Neil SC, she said she would share facts from reputable sources regardless of who found them uncomfortable or controversial.
‘If it’s factual, evidence-based … I will share it,’ she told the court.
Lattouf alleges that she was unfairly dismissed because of her political opinion and because of her Lebanese-Arabic heritage.
The ABC denies this, saying that she breached a specific direction not to post anything regarding Israel or Gaza during her employment, and the ABC’s stated policy of remaining impartial.
Mr Neil will continue cross-examining Lattouf on Tuesday when she gets back into the witness box.
