<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339198</docID> <postdate>2025-02-27 14:06:16</postdate> <headline>‘Game over for ABC’: pro-Palestine host’s legal attack</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339199" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20250227168958144541-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Closing arguments have begun in journalist Antoinette Lattouf's case against the ABC. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Miklos Bolza</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>The ABC executive who fired a fill-in radio host after she posted about the war in Gaza knew there was no order banning such posts, the journalist's lawyer has claimed.</strong></p> <p>Antoinette Lattouf was let go after three days of a week-long fill-in stint on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program when she shared a Human Rights Watch post that said Israel used starvation as a "weapon of war" in Gaza.</p> <p>She went after the ABC in the Fair Work Commission and escalated the case to the Federal Court, where she has sued for penalties and damages.</p> <p>In closing submissions on Thursday, Lattouf's barrister Oshie Fagir said it was "incredulous" then-ABC content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor was oblivious to the fact no direction had been given to the casual host to avoid posting about Israel or Gaza.</p> <p>In a meeting just before the 41-year-old journalist was let go, her direct supervisor Elizabeth Green informed those present she never made such an order.</p> <p>While Mr Oliver-Taylor joined the meeting minutes later, he would have been informed of what Ms Green said given the meeting was held to discuss what directions Lattouf was acting under, Mr Fagir told the court.</p> <p>"It is overwhelmingly improbable they failed to convey that fact to Mr Oliver-Taylor," the barrister said.</p> <p>"If Ms Green is accepted, that is game over for the ABC."</p> <p>Claims by the public broadcaster that she was let go for breaching a direction and not for her political opinion were clearly spurious, Mr Fagir added.</p> <p>She was dismissed 48 hours into a campaign of complaints about her opinions on Israel and the war, he said, but internal ABC messages showed executives knew very little about her beyond her public statements on the conflict.</p> <p>Earlier on Thursday, the broadcaster's barrister Ian Neil SC said Lattouf had actually furthered her freelance career after her dismissal, including by growing her Instagram following.</p> <p>She admitted under cross-examination the increased online reach helped in her work, he said.</p> <p>"Are you going to be submitting that she benefited from her treatment ... at the ABC?" Justice Darryl Rangiah asked.</p> <p>"Yes," Mr Neil said.</p> <p>Lattouf claims those directly responsible for her unlawful dismissal were Mr Oliver-Taylor and now-outgoing managing director David Anderson.</p> <p>She has also targeted former chair Ita Buttrose and head of audio content Ben Latimer, saying they influenced the decision to let her go.</p> <p>Executives from the broadcaster recently revealed it had spent $1.1 million in taxpayer funds defending the case to date after its failed attempts to reach a settlement.</p> </body>