Antoinette Lattouf’s legal team has questioned the ABC’s handling of its impartiality policy, highlighting in the Federal Court what they believe could be double standards in the treatment of high-profile presenters.
Lattouf was dismissed by the ABC in December 2023 — just three days into a five-day contract to host the Sydney Mornings Radio show — after sharing a post on Instagram by Human Rights Watch (HRW), with the caption “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.
At the time, the ABC claimed the post related to the Israel-Palestine conflict breached its social media policy. Notably, the broadcaster had also covered the HRW report as a news story.
Lattouf is now suing the national broadcaster for unlawful dismissal, claiming she was sacked for expressing a political opinion, with her racial background as a woman of Lebanese and Middle Eastern descent also playing a role in her termination.
Her trial commenced on Monday, February 3.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Lattouf testified that she was unfairly singled out for her views, despite other presenters expressing their personal opinions on contentious issues. When asked which ABC journalists she considered to be impartial, Lattouf named Annabel Crabb, Julia Baird, and Virginia Trioli, as reported by Sky News.
The following day, ABC managing director David Anderson was questioned whether the broadcaster applied different standards to its well-known journalists.
During cross-examination, Lattouf’s barrister Oshie Fagir cited previous statements by ABC figures like Laura Tingle, Paul Barry, and Patricia Karvelas on divisive topics.
Anderson acknowledged that these journalists had made public statements that could be seen as biased. However none of them had been removed from air, he confirmed, per The Australian.
“They’re not removed from air if it’s not a problem,” Anderson said.
When questioned, he defended 7.30’s political correspondent Tingle’s comment at a writers’ festival in 2023 that “Australia is a racist country”, stating it was “based in fact”.
Anderson disagreed with Fagir’s suggestion that it was a “contentious statement” and remarked it as a factual observation rooted in Australia’s history of racism, per the Guardian.
“Ms Lattouf can’t make a public statement which is not impartial, but Laura Tingle can: that’s the fact of the matter, isn’t it?” Fagir further questioned.
“It was a different matter,” Anderson said, “and that was dealt with at the time.”
Similarly, he said he could not assess statements made by former Radio National presenter Karvelas on the “Murdoch press” without more context, emphasizing that each case was handled individually.
When questioned about former Media Watch host Paul Barry’s 2023 tweet — which mentioned “Israel is killing journalists again” — Anderson admitted he was unaware of the tweet and could not comment on whether it breached impartiality guidelines. Barry, who has since left the ABC, was not subject to any sanctions for the tweet.
During cross-examination, ABC’s Anderson denied there was one rule for some journalists at the ABC and another rule for others.
“I think it depends on the statement itself, the assessment that is made as to whether, yes, it could be reasonably considered not to be impartial … I think it’s about that judgment, and I think you are exercising that judgment against the staff code of conduct,” he told the court.
Antoinette Lattouf hired in part due to ‘diversity policy’
The court also heard that Lattouf had been hired, in part, under the ABC’s ‘diversity policy’ to fill in as a radio presenter. The ABC’s diversity policy identifies potential future presenters from diverse backgrounds, and Lattouf was selected partly due to her Lebanese-Christian heritage and upbringing in western Sydney.
The hearing revealed that after receiving a number of complaints within 90 minutes of Lattouf’s first show, Anderson raised concerns with senior ABC executives.
In an email, he asked, “Can we ensure that Antoinette is not and has not been posting anything that would suggest she is not impartial?”
Anderson also allegedly questioned why Lattouf had been chosen for the role, as reported by The Guardian.
Steve Ahern, then manager of ABC Radio Sydney, responded that Lattouf had been identified as a potential future presenter due to her background and in line with the ABC’s diversity policy.
“Her background is Lebanese-Christian. She grew up in western Sydney, the child of Lebanese immigrants,” Ahern wrote.
“She’d been selected in part having regard to the ABC’s diversity policy.”
The hearing continues this week and is expected to conclude on Monday, February 10.
Lead image: Twitter, Rohan Thomson/Getty Images
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