Journalist Antoinette Lattouf says she was told she was “sounding great” on ABC radio just an hour before she was terminated for a social media post, according to a submission filed with the Fair Work Commission.
Lattouf was filling in on ABC Sydney mornings this week but was told not to come in for her final two shifts.
Represented by her lawyer Sarah Ibrahim, Lattouf has now filed a submission to the Fair Work Commission for unlawful termination on the grounds of “political opinion or a reason that included political opinion”.
According to the FWC, “workers are protected against adverse action in employment based on activities expressing their political views”, a protection that “does not extend to politically motivated acts of violence”.
“Political opinion includes membership of a political party; expressed political, socio-political, or moral attitudes; or civic commitment,” the FWC website says.
The submission claims that lobby groups made numerous complaints about her before she was sacked.
“The ABC informed Ms Lattouf that her employment was terminated for breaching the ABC’s social media policy for posting the following on her Instagram account,” the submission states. It sets out the timeline of the past week or so.
On 13 December, Crikey published a story Lattouf co-authored with Cam Wilson headlined: “Viral footage showed protesters chanting ‘gas the Jews’. Nobody can verify it.”
The article questioned the authenticity and editing of the video.
At about the same time, ABC gave her casual shifts for a week from 18-22 December.
She was told that Jewish lobbyists were unhappy she was on the air, according to the statement.
“Ms Lattouf’s employment with the ABC has been the subject of numerous complaints from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ),” the submission says.
ECAJ denies it made any complaints about Lattouf.
Lattouf was then told “sharing straight facts and material from reputable sources was fine”, according to the submission.
The next day she reposted on Instagram a post from Human Rights Watch that said “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza”.
The ABC covered the claim at the time.
Lattouf, a Lebanese Australian social commentator, columnist and diversity advocate, reposted with the comment “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.
She is a contributor to various outlets including the Guardian, and is the co-founder of Media Diversity Australia.
The day after that, she was told she was “sounding great” on air and that the audience was “responding very well”.
“On or about an hour later, Ms Lattouf was summoned for a ‘quick chat’… at that meeting Ms Lattouf’s employment was terminated,” the submission says.
She was told the decision came from upper management.
It was swiftly reported in The Australian, and ECAJ said on social media that she “breached the broadcaster’s social media code by positing disinformation & anti-Israel comments”. The ABC has not confirmed the reason for her dismissal.
ECAJ co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the organisation had not made any complaints to the ABC about Lattouf.
“We are aware that many individuals felt outraged by her actions and exercised their right to make their feelings known to her taxpayer-funded employer,” he said.
“The ECAJ does not write the ABC’s code of practice nor does it enforce it. Perhaps this is a case of people power prevailing upon the ABC and our national broadcaster deciding correctly that activism and journalism are not the same thing.”
Lattouf’s submission seeks a declaration the ABC breached the Fair Work Act, compensation for Lattouf and a penalty for the broadcaster.
One petition demanding Lattouf be re-hired has garnered more than 6,000 signatures; a separate one has more than 4,300 signatures. A fundraiser for her legal fees has raised $4,500.
The ABC has come under fire from all sides amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, and a febrile atmosphere in Australia.
In the early hours of Friday morning, the ABC’s Melbourne office was vandalised.
The Southbank office windows and doors were splashed with red paint and the message “Tell the truth about Palestine”.
Earlier this week the ABC removed a TikTok video on the Palestinian boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. ECAJ said on social media that “publishing promotional content for the anti-Israel BDS movement is reckless and grossly unprofessional”.
The ABC has now reinstated the video, with an editor’s note saying “the spread of the BDS movement is a legitimate story for the ABC to do on any platform”.
“This was originally intended as a short profile of one person who has become part of the movement. However, the ABC felt that it did require more context, which has now been included.”
