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The Guardian
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Deep in the 185-page Lattouf judgment is a forensic critique of the ABC's top brass
Buried in justice Darryl Rangiah's 185-page judgment that found the ABC breached the Fair Work Act in its termination of Antoinette Lattouf is a critical assessment of the behaviour of the broadcaster's top management, including former chair Ita Buttrose. Four of the key figures in Lattouf's removal– Buttrose, the then managing director David Anderson, former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor and Sydney radio manager Steve Ahern – have since departed the ABC. But 18 months ago, they were among senior managers in a 'a state of panic' after an 'orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists to have Ms Lattouf taken off air', the federal court judge said. Rangiah traced every text, email and internal discussion between multiple layers of ABC management in December 2023 and compared them with the evidence they gave in the seven-day trial, lifting the veil on decision-making at the public broadcaster. Some individuals came out better than others. Buttrose, Rangiah said, 'made clear her displeasure' at Lattouf's appointment at the outset, forwarding email complaints from pro-Israel lobbyists to Oliver-Taylor. She demanded to know why an 'activist' had been engaged in the first place, putting pressure on Oliver-Taylor to act, Rangiah found. He said when Buttrose asked David Anderson: 'Why can't she come down with flu or Covid or a stomach upset?' the chair was expressing her 'desire for Ms Lattouf to be taken off air immediately under the pretence of illness'. In the witness box, Buttrose claimed the expression was 'just a face-saving idea'. When it came to her performance under cross-examination, Rangiah was not impressed. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'Ms Buttrose's evidence under cross-examination was somewhat theatrical and difficult to follow at times,' he said. 'She had a strong belief that Ms Lattouf was an activist who should have never been engaged by the ABC and she wanted Ms Lattouf gone as soon as possible.' But while Buttrose's forwarding of complaints about Lattouf placed pressure on Oliver-Taylor, Rangiah said that the chair did 'not materially contribute' to the decision to take the journalist off air, finding that this was Oliver-Taylor's decision alone. In his assessment of Oliver-Taylor, Rangiah found some of his evidence about whether Lattouf was given a direction not to post about Gaza was 'quite implausible', ultimately finding that he does 'not accept' this evidence and Lattouf was not given a direction. At issue was whether Lattouf had been given a direction by her manager, Elizabeth Green, not to post on social media or just a suggestion to keep a low profile. Oliver-Taylor claimed in court that there was no difference between asking someone to do something and 'directing' them. When it came to the former managing director, Rangiah found Anderson 'materially contributed' to Oliver-Taylor's decision to remove Lattouf by 'expressing his opinion that Ms Lattouf had anti-Semitic views' after inspecting her social media accounts. Lower down the chain, Rangiah was critical of evidence given by Ahern, as well as radio chief Ben Latimer and editorial adviser Simon Melkman – the latter two for 'their lack of recollection' about what was said at a Teams meeting before Lattouf was taken off air. 'The evidence of Mr Latimer, Mr Ahern and Mr Melkman under cross-examination left me with substantial doubts as to the reliability and credibility of their evidence on controversial matters,' Rangiah said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'I reject their evidence asserting that Mr Oliver-Taylor was not informed in the Teams Meeting that Ms Green had not given Ms Lattouf a direction and had only given her advice.' The judge was definitive in his assessment of what caused the 'panic' on the executive floor and why emails were flying between them. 'Ms Buttrose and Mr Anderson received multiple letters and emails complaining about Ms Lattouf, which sought to pressure the ABC to not employ her and/or terminate her employment for reasons including her political opinion and/or race and/or national extraction,' he found. 'He [Anderson] considered that it was of critical importance for the ABC to have a high degree of actual and perceived impartiality in relation to the Israel/Gaza war. 'The complaints, as they developed over the ensuing days, were evidently a coordinated campaign to pressure the ABC into taking Ms Lattouf off air or ceasing to employ her.' Of Lattouf's direct manager, Green, Rangiah was highly complimentary, finding 'no doubt about the reliability and accuracy' of her evidence. 'I accept Ms Green to be a reliable witness and accept her account of all her discussions with Mr Ahern,' he said. 'In summary, Ms Green made it explicitly clear she had not given any direction to Ms Lattouf and had merely provided advice.'
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Ita Buttrose's extraordinary justification for spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on chauffeurs to her favourite Italian restaurant
Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose says claims she wasted taxpayer funds on luxury car hire trips are 'irrelevant'. The 82-year-old media veteran spent at least $3,625 on luxury car hire services in the 12 months between January 2023 and January 2024, documents obtained under a Freedom of Information request by The Australian revealed. Internal policy at the ABC says staff should be 'discouraged' from using chauffeur-driven cars and that travel cost should be 'necessary, controlled, and defensible under public scrutiny'. Buttrose told The Australian those rules did not apply to her because the chairperson was 'not considered staff'. 'Directors of the ABC are not employees... so your questions are irrelevant,' she told The Australian. Invoices obtained by the newspaper revealed Buttrose repeatedly charted trips with Corporate Cars Australia - a chauffeur service that brands itself as a 'luxury car hire company' offering a 'first-class experience with 24/7 chauffeur service in Sydney, Melbourne and Australia-wide'. Among its fleet are 'only the latest model luxury vehicles' including sedans, stretch limousines, executive vans, and luxury coaches. While she was boss at the broadcaster, she used the service for many trips to and from her Redfern home, the ABC's Ultimo offices and a number of swanky restaurants and venues across the city. Buttrose twice used the car service to visit Beppi's Italian, a Darlinghurst staple she penned a review for some 70 years after her father, Charles Buttrose, did the same in his role as editor of The Daily Mirror. On October 11 2023, Buttrose spent a combined $312.26 on a trip to and from her Redfern home via work and Beppi's Italian. The journey included a $115.38 charge for the 2.4km drive from her home to the broadcaster's Ultimo headquarters. Buttrose, who took home a $211,297 salary in 2023 as ABC chair, sold her two-bedroom high-rise Redfern apartment earlier this year for $1.67million after purchasing it for $1.55million two years earlier. It's not the first time the media veteran's use of the luxury car hire has made headlines. Earlier this year, she used a receipt from the car hire company to dispute evidence raised by ABC managing director David Anderson in the unlawful termination case brought against the broadcaster by former interim radio host Antoinette Lattouf. Lattouf was let go from her fill-in post on ABC Radio Sydney's Mornings program in December 2023 after she shared a Human Rights Watch post that claimed Israel used starvation as a 'weapon of war' in Gaza. The journalist brought her case to the Federal Court after the Fair Work Commission found she had been sacked by the broadcaster. In that case, Anderson claimed he had shared a conversation with Buttrose the day Lattouf was let go at ABC's Ultimo office on December 20, 2023 before attending a Christmas lunch event. He claimed Buttrose told him they were 'going to have to agree to disagree' on his position Lattouf would see out the week at the company. In a letter sent to ABC's lawyers, Buttrose claimed receipts from the car hire service proved she had been been picked up from her Redfern home and therefore could not have spoken with Anderson at the Ultimo office before the lunch. Those receipts, obtained earlier this year by Daily Mail Australia, included a $108.99 charge for a car hire from a redacted location to Luke's Kitchen, a destination restaurant in the lobby of the ritzy Kimpton Margot Hotel in Sydney, via ABC's Ultimo offices at 12.10pm. The FOI request documents obtained by The Australian would suggest the trip began at Buttrose's Redfern home, in line with her claims. She also challenged Anderson's evidence relating to a conversation he claimed to have had with the ABC's former content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor in a taxi back to the Ultimo offices after the lunch. Buttrose claimed the conversation could not have taken place as Anderson had joined her in a car hire which dropped him at the offices before taking her home. Invoices appear to verify Buttrose's version of the itinerary, including a further $108.99 charge for a trip from the Pitt Street restaurant to a redacted location believed to be Buttrose's Redfern home via ABC's offices at 3pm. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest that Mr Anderson's evidence in the federal court case was anything but his honest recollection of events only that Ms Buttrose has contacted the ABC's lawyers to dispute them. Justice Darryl Rangiah has yet to deliver his verdict on Lattouf's case against the broadcaster.
The Guardian
11-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Afternoon Update: Buttrose fronts Lattouf hearing; Trump weighs Australia tariffs; and life as a triple zero call-taker
Ita Buttrose has made a much-anticipated appearance in the witness box at Antoinette Lattouf's unlawful termination case against the ABC. The former chair of the public broadcaster told the federal court the journalist 'was an activist' in relation to the Israel-Gaza war and for that reason should not have been hired. Court documents show Buttrose sent six emails in rapid succession detailing complaints about Lattouf to ABC's content chief in the hours leading up to the casual presenter's dismissal. The broadcaster has amended its legal defence after outcry about its claims the onus was on Lattouf to prove the existence of a Lebanese, Arab or Middle Eastern race. The hearing continues. Dutton says frontbenchers who backed Hanson's call for transgender healthcare inquiry entitled to conscience vote Crossbench braces for major party 'stitch-up' as Labor-Coalition electoral reform deal looms 'Bit of Clive money': Seven West banks on election ad revenue as profits sink Breville ramps up coffee bean sales to undercut supermarkets as cost of living changes cafe habits Ben Simmons joins LA Clippers alongside Patty Mills in bid to reignite NBA career Armie Hammer denies cannibalism claims in Louis Theroux interview Philadelphia Eagles fans climbed light poles, garbage trucks and bus stops after their team's 40-22 shellacking of the Kansas City Chiefs to secure their second Super Bowl title in less than a decade. 'We have a surplus with Australia, one of the few … I told him that [exemptions] is something we will give great consideration.' Donald Trump has agreed to consider exempting Australia from new steel tariffs, calling Anthony Albanese 'a very fine man' after the two shared a phone call. The US president later declared the 25% duties will be enforced 'without exceptions or exemptions'. Here's what we know so far. An expansion of low-cost rentals will be a vote-changing political issue at the upcoming federal election, according to new research. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion As a triple zero call-taker, writer Bunny Banyai saw the line between self-preservation and dissociation begin to blur. After six months in the role, Banyai felt her heart harden and her view of humanity change. Today's starter word is: ARE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply. If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
The Guardian
11-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Antoinette Lattouf v ABC hearing live: federal court judge ‘deeply unhappy' broadcaster made public an unredacted affidavit
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Justice Darryl Rangiah has opened proceedings by stating he is 'deeply unhappy' that the ABC filed an unredacted version of Chris Oliver-Taylor's affidavit despite a federal court order that the names of the people who complained to the ABC about Antoinette Lattouf should remain private. On Monday the court uploaded an affidavit that was not redacted and the names and details of the Jewish people were made public, before the mistake was realised and the document was taken down. Rangiah says: The court is entitled to expect that the information provided to the court by the parties is accurate. The people who are the subject of the suppression order are entitled to expect that the confidentiality of their identification and contact details will be maintained by the parties. ABC barrister Ian Neil SC apologises for what he says was 'human error': As leading counsel responsible for the presentation of the respondent's case, I stand before you this morning to tender my personal apology for what has happened. Share Former ABC chair Ita Buttrose will be today's star witness There are still five witnesses to give evidence after two days were added to last week's original five-day schedule. The star witness today is former ABC chair Ita Buttrose. The court has previously heard details of emails in which it appears she was urging management to remove Lattouf from air after receiving dozens of complaints about her employment. The former ABC chair Ita Buttrose is due to give evidence today. Photograph: Emma Brasier/Women in Media But first up today is the former head of ABC Sydney local radio Steve Ahern, the man who hired Lattouf for five days in December 2023, a decision described as 'a negligent error of judgement' by the managing director, David Anderson. Last week Anderson told the court he believed Lattouf should never have been appointed as a casual radio host because of her 'partisan view on Israel-Gaza'. On Friday the court heard Chris Oliver-Taylor, the ABC executive who sacked Lattouf for sharing a Human Rights Watch post, felt 'pressure from above' after Buttrose sent him all the complaints she was receiving. 'The pressure was now building, the concerns were rising,' Oliver-Taylor said of the situation on 19 December 2023 after Buttrose wrote to him directly and said she would be forwarding on all complaints she received about Lattouf. To catch up on how things wrapped on Friday, here's our report: Share Lattouf trial reveals an ABC so paralysed by process even its managers can't keep up In case you missed it, Hugh Riminton on Saturday wrote about the first week of the federal court hearing: If one thing has emerged from journalist Antoinette Lattouf's quixotic battle with the ABC over her sacking 14 months ago, it is that the public broadcaster appears to be so weighed down by procedures, policy codes and guidelines that even senior management can't keep up. Read Riminton's take on events here: Share Hi, I'm Amanda Meade, media correspondent at Guardian Australia, and I'll be watching day six of the Antoinette Lattouf v ABC unlawful termination claim. We will bring you all the evidence as it unfolds from 10.15am. Over today and Wednesday we will hear evidence from the remaining five witnesses, all from the ABC: Ita Buttrose, Steve Ahern, Simon Melkman, Ben Latimer and Elizabeth Green. Share
