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Antoinette Lattouf will ask a court to order the ABC to pay a pecuniary penalty to her for unlawfully terminating her Sydney radio contract in a “state of panic” amid complaints about her views on the Israel-Gaza war.
Lawyers for the journalist and the ABC will return to the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday to deliver submissions to the court on the appropriate penalty.
Antoinette Lattouf leaves the Federal Court in February.Credit: Nikki Short
In a decision on June 25, Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah ordered the ABC to pay Lattouf $70,000 in compensation after finding it terminated her employment in 2023 to “appease … pro-Israel lobbyists” because “she held political opinions opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza”.
A pecuniary penalty is separate to compensation. Rangiah scheduled a separate hearing on this issue.
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Rangiah made a declaration in June 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 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 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.
More to come.
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