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The ABC has been ordered to pay a penalty of $150,000 to Antoinette Lattouf for unlawfully terminating her Sydney radio contract after caving to pressure from pro-Israel campaigners.
The sum is in addition to $70,000 in compensation that Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah ordered the national broadcaster to pay Lattouf after delivering his principal decision on June 25.
Antoinette Lattouf and one of her barristers, Philip Boncardo, outside the Federal Court in Sydney earlier this month.Credit: Sam Mooy
Rangiah delivered his decision on the penalty in Brisbane on Wednesday. He ordered the ABC to make the payment to Lattouf within 28 days.
In a statement ahead of the decision, Lattouf said the ABC had spent “well over $2 million of taxpayer money fighting me”.
“Whatever the penalty, for me this was never about money – it’s always been about accountability and the integrity of the information our public broadcaster gives us.
“I hope the ABC takes this opportunity to restore credibility, regain trust, and re-establish integrity, because our democracy depends on a strong fourth estate.”
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Lattouf’s legal team had argued for a penalty of up to $350,000. The ABC submitted a much lower penalty of between $37,560 and $56,340 would be “just and appropriate”, based on its view that the maximum penalty available was $187,800.
In his decision in June, Rangiah found the ABC terminated Lattouf’s employment in 2023 to “appease … pro-Israel lobbyists” because “she held political opinions opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza”.
He made a declaration that the broadcaster breached the Fair Work Act by sacking Lattouf for reasons including her political opinion and by contravening its enterprise agreement in failing to give her an opportunity to respond to allegations against her.
Lattouf’s barristers, Oshie Fagir and Philip Boncardo, said in written submissions filed in court before Wednesday’s penalty decision that the ABC had engaged in “a craven placation of pro-Israeli lobbyists” and should be sanctioned accordingly.
Lattouf was removed as a fill-in host of ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program in December 2023 after sharing a post critical of Israel from non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch on social media and adding the caption: “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war.”
Rangiah said the post was “bound to be controversial” and triggered a “state of panic” within the ranks of the ABC’s senior management.
Lattouf’s actions were “ill-advised and inconsiderate of her employer”, the judge said, but she had not been directed to refrain from posting about the war on social media while employed by the ABC.
Rangiah found Lattouf was “merely provided with advice that it would be best not to post anything controversial about the war”.
The broadcaster had already received complaints about Lattouf’s appointment because of her views about the war, which were not expressed on radio. The identities of those who complained about Lattouf were suppressed by Rangiah for 10 years to protect their safety.
“The complaints asserted she had expressed antisemitic views, lacked impartiality and was unsuitable to present any program for the ABC,” Rangiah said.
“It became clear that the complaints were an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Ms Lattouf taken off air.”
Lattouf was sacked about 48 hours after the complaints started, three days into a planned five-day hosting stint.
The Lattouf case lifted the lid on the chaos within the ABC’s upper echelons as the complaints rolled in.
At 8.39pm on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, the ABC’s then-chair, Ita Buttrose, had emailed the then-managing director, David Anderson: “Has Antoinette been replaced. I am over getting emails about her.”
Lattouf was removed from the air the next day, but Buttrose told the court she “didn’t put pressure on anybody”.
Rangiah said that “the pressure exerted by Mr Anderson and Ms Buttrose” in forwarding complaints to Chris Oliver-Taylor, the ABC’s then chief content officer, “did not materially contribute to the decision” to sack her.
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