<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>338012</docID> <postdate>2025-02-11 18:00:56</postdate> <headline>‘Fantasy’: Ita Buttrose denies pushing host’s sacking</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-338013" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250207189515877216-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Complaints said Antoinette Lattouf was anti-Semitic and she'd turn the ABC into a Hamas mouthpiece. (Bianca De Marchi/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Miklos Bolza</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>Ita Buttrose has denied pressuring out an "activist" from her fill-in radio presenting role over the sharing of a post on the Gaza war, telling a court she should never have been employed in the first place.</strong></p> <p>Antoinette Lattouf was recruited to host the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney for five days in December 2023</p> <p>However, the 41-year-old was let go following three days on air after sharing an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch saying Israel used starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza.</p> <p>Ms Buttrose, the then-ABC chair, gave evidence in Lattouf's unlawful dismissal case on Tuesday, denying she had used her position to oust the freelance journalist after receiving a torrent of complaints.</p> <p>"I didn't wish her to be removed, I didn't put pressure on anybody," she told Lattouf's barrister Philip Boncardo.</p> <p>"It's a fantasy of your own imagination."</p> <p>In an email to now-outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson two days after Lattouf had started her shifts, Ms Buttrose said she was over getting complaints.</p> <p>She asked whether the radio host could come down with COVID-19, the flu or a stomach bug.</p> <p>The ex-chair denied being hostile or antagonistic towards Lattouf, telling the Federal Court that coming down sick was just a "face-saving option" to give the journalist an easy exit.</p> <p>"Why did Ms Lattouf need to save face?" asked Mr Boncardo.</p> <p>"It looked like she was going to lose her job," Ms Buttrose replied.</p> <p>She accused Lattouf of not being honest when she was hired by failing to say that she was an activist who was critical of Israel.</p> <p>The ABC was not the place for activists of any kind to work, she told the court.</p> <p>Despite her elevated position, the then-chair personally took the time to respond to numerous complaints and forwarded them to content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor who was tasked with looking into the matter.</p> <p>Lattouf alleges that she was fired because of her political opinion and race after the ABC bowed to pressure from pro-Israeli lobbyists who co-ordinated the campaign of complaints.</p> <p>She is seeking compensation and penalties against the broadcaster.</p> <p>The ABC is defending the case, saying she ignored a direction not to post anything on the Israel-Gaza conflict while working on Mornings.</p> <p>In late-2023, chief political correspondent and staff-elected member of the ABC board Laura Tingle wrote to Ms Buttrose calling Ms Lattouf's dismissal a "spectacular error of judgment".</p> <p>"It leaves both Antoinette and the ABC suffering reputational damage," she wrote.</p> <p>After Lattouf's dismissal, Ms Buttrose received thanks from one of the people who complained.</p> <p>Forwarding this on to Mr Anderson the then-chair wrote: "It's nice to get congratulatory emails."</p> <p>Forme head of capital city networks Steve Ahern earlier said he wasn't surprised by Mr Oliver-Taylor's suggestion his decision to hire Lattouf was "ill-informed".</p> <p>"I was disappointed by the characterisation of me making an ill-informed decision, but that's the way these things go," he said.</p> <p>He denied feeling pressure from the criticism or that he considered disciplinary action could have been taken against him as a result.</p> <p>The ABC also withdrew its defence that Lattouf's racial discrimination case should fail because she had not proved that there was a Lebanese, Middle-Eastern or Arab race or national extraction.</p> <p>The public broadcaster also made a formal apology after confidential information relating to those who complained about Lattouf's views on the war in Gaza was accidentally disclosed to the public.</p> <p>The details, which were suppressed by the Federal Court for the individuals' safety, were revealed on Monday in an affidavit by Mr Oliver-Taylor.</p> <p>Justice Darryl Rangiah expressed his displeasure that the details had been leaked, saying he was "deeply unhappy" with the ABC's legal team.</p> <p>ABC barrister Ian Neil SC apologised personally and on behalf of the organisation, saying the mistake was a result of human error.</p> </body>