The unlawful dismissal case of journalist Antoinette Lattouf against the ABC begins in the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday, February 3, and newly released court documents have revealed high-level email exchanges between ABC leadership in the hours leading up to her termination.
Newly released court documents have shed fresh light on the internal discussions at the ABC surrounding journalist Antoinette Lattouf’s abrupt dismissal from a casual radio hosting role in December 2023. The documents, released ahead of the federal court trial in Sydney, include a list of emails exchanged between then-ABC chair Ita Buttrose and managing director David Anderson in the critical hours leading up to Lattouf’s sacking.
The emails, while yet to be made public in full, reportedly indicate a flurry of communication at the highest levels of the ABC on the morning of December 20, the day Lattouf was dismissed.
The agreed statement of facts published by the court noted that “Between 11.04 am and 11.31 am on Wednesday, 20 December 2023, Ms Buttrose sent a series of emails.” The content of these emails remains undisclosed, but their existence highlights how senior ABC leadership was directly engaged in the decision-making process.
Lattouf’s dismissal followed her social media post about the Israel-Gaza war, which the ABC argued was a breach of editorial policy. However, Lattouf and her supporters have maintained that her post—based on a Human Rights Watch report—was factual and did not violate ABC guidelines.
The newly released documents also reveal a key point of contention: whether Lattouf had been explicitly told by her ABC radio manager not to post anything about Israel and Palestine or whether she was simply advised to ensure that her posts were factual.
The Fair Work Commission noted that there was “some confusion” over whether she was given a directive to avoid posting altogether or merely received guidance on editorial standards.
Lattouf argued that her post was in line with ABC’s editorial guidelines, but ABC leadership viewed her actions as potentially compromising the broadcaster’s impartiality.
While the ABC has denied that outside pressure influenced its decision to remove Lattouf, new evidence in the case will likely scrutinise this claim. The Age previously reported on leaked WhatsApp messages allegedly showing a coordinated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Lattouf removed in the days leading up to her dismissal.
Despite these reports, the ABC has maintained that Lattouf was not technically dismissed because she was paid for the full five days of her contract. The Fair Work Commission rejected this argument, ruling that she had, in fact, been sacked—paving the way for her unlawful dismissal claim now before the court.
The trial is expected to see testimony from some of the ABC’s most senior figures at the time, including Buttrose, Anderson, and Oliver-Taylor. Their testimony will likely focus on the internal discussions surrounding Lattouf’s employment and the role that external complaints and editorial policies played in her removal.
Antoinette Lattouf will be appearing at the Cairns Crocodiles in May 2025.
