Australia's public broadcaster has spent more than $1 million defending a legal case alleging the unlawful termination of a casual radio host on a five-day contract.
Senior figures from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation returned for another round of Senate estimates on Tuesday, when they were hit with questions over the dismissal of journalist Antoinette Lattouf.
The casual presenter was hosting a morning program on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023 but alleges she was unlawfully taken off air three days into her five-day contract after sharing an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch saying Israel used starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza.
Acting managing director Melanie Kleyn said the broadcaster tried to settle the case on multiple occasions and had already spent $1.1 million on external lawyers to defend itself in the Federal Court.
"We do obviously understand this is an impost on public funds and that's why we have tried to settle the matter," she said.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the whole affair had been badly handled by management, resulting in a messy public debate and legal dispute.
But Ms Kleyn disagreed, saying the broadcaster would wait to see how the court case unfolded.
"We are and will continue to reflect on this matter and we will learn what we can," she said.
Liberal senator Sarah Henderson questioned the broadcaster's processes for reviewing social media activity of employees or prospective employees in the hiring process.
ABC chief people officer Deena Amorelli said scrutiny in candidate selection depended on the role.
"It is not part of the process that we would usually go and examine social media activity for each individual candidate," she said.
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi queried a since-abandoned element of the broadcaster's legal defence including an "atrocious" argument questioning the existence of the Lebanese or Arab races.
"It was a technical legal argument that we accept should never have been made," Ms Amorelli told the hearing.
Workplace and business law expert Giuseppe Carabetta told AAP the legal bill for the ongoing case was hardly surprising given the ABC had engaged a specialist law firm and multiple barristers.
"Of course, the Federal Court will have to deal with the question of costs at the end of the proceedings, once we have a winner and loser, and this can take into account a range of variables including any settlement offers," the University of Technology Sydney associate professor said.
Former Nine Entertainment chief executive Hugh Marks will start a five-year term as ABC managing director in March.
