Antoinette Lattouf said she had a protracted legal battle with the National Broadcaster that revealed “systemic racism and decay at the heart of the ABC.”
Latov said at an emotional press conference outside Sydney federal court at the end of the case that she was fired for the ABC and the consequences: “This legend is undoubtedly the most difficult of my life.”
In the closing article, if ABC loses the high-risk battle, ABC raises out “modest” spending to Ratov, although accepting the firing of her is a contributing factor to the psychological condition, which is the basis for her claims about harm and pain.
Ian Neil SC told ABC that if the company is found to be violating the Fair Work Act, the broadcaster did accept that it was a contributing factor that Latov suffered now.
Lattouf sued the ABC for illegal termination, with previous evidence telling the court that she suffered from paranoia and sleeplessness since her five-day leisure contract evacuated from the air in December 2023.
Neil did not submit any compensation, but there is no evidence that ABC is aware of the psychological condition that already exists, and any compensation should be “moderate”.
But this is far from seeing this by Lattouf’s team.
Latov’s attorney Oshie Fagir argued Friday that ABC defended the case in a “offensive” way that he would seek additional compensation if his client succeeded.
He said the “offensive” approach involves ABC asking Lattouf about his personal affairs during cross-examination.
“There are many objectionable aspects of the ABC case, and it’s a question of whether and when we enter the fine phase,” he said.
Outside the court, Ratov’s position was clear: “I’ve done what I’m going to do, and now the ABC’s decay and systemic racism have aired.”
Neil said that when closing the ABC case, the evidence showed that “many causes that exacerbated her pre-existing psychological condition were mixed with each other.”
“One is the psychological condition itself, the other is all the other things that work in her mind: the burden of being a poster girl with justice, humanity and free justice news; the adverse consequences of attracting people as activists from a controversial perspective.”
When Justice Darryl Rangiah asked Lattouf, 41, if it was a difficult situation due to an underlying psychological condition, Neil replied: “Yes, in this case, this is the evidence.”
Neil believes that ABC’s view is that Ratov was not fired, but that she “has been freed from the obligation to perform further work.”
He said the evacuation was intended to be “to protect the ABC” – not related to discrimination, race or political opinion.
“She waived her obligation to perform further work. We have the right to do so. Ms. Lattouf does not have a clear right in fact.
“It’s not about discrimination, it’s about differential treatment,” he said. “It’s not about unfair dismissal cases. It’s not about the fairness of any relationship related to Ms. Ratov.”
ABC asked Rangiah not to rely on testimony from Lattouf line manager Elizabeth Green. Earlier in the hearing, Green provided evidence that Ratov did not give instructions not to post information about the Israeli war in Gaza on social media.
Throughout the hearing, both sides discussed a question: What is the difference between direction and advice?
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Neil said no top ABC manager recalls Green telling them she didn’t give Ratuff a direction and they were giving directions to her assumptions.
“In fact, she was told not to post any information about the conflict between Israel and Gaza in the week with ABC,” he said.
Neal noted that Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor sent a text message to managing director David Anderson. Oliver-Taylor wrote in it: “Confirm my point of view that she violated our editorial policies in our work.
“She hasn’t followed the manager’s instructions to not post anything when working with ABC. So I have no choice but to let her down.”
When deciding on Ratov’s fate, the text message was sent to Anderson a few minutes after the ABC meeting.
Neil said why would he immediately lie to the managing director if Oliver-Taylor heard Green say she didn’t give Ratuff a direction.
“He lied, falsely stated, what he was told… what reason he had had two minutes ago.”
Neil said the only reason Latov was fired was to publish a Human Rights Watch (HRW) post. Ratov let go after sharing Israel’s “weapons of war” in Gaza.
Neil said the position is different from the ABC News report in the HRW report.
“It’s not a similar comparison, and ABC hasn’t republished the Human Rights Watch story like Ms. Ratov,” he said.
“They did something more nuanced and balanced than that.”
He said, “Comparison is never a voice.”
Rangiah will make a judgment on a date yet to be confirmed.
Other reports from Nino Bucci.
