During closing submissions yesterday, Lattouf’s barrister Oshie Fagir alleged that four ABC executives including the broadcaster’s then-chair Ita Buttrose had a hand in the decision to axe Lattouf on radio over her views on the Israel-Gaza war.
Fagir said that ABC managing director David Anderson and Buttrose were both involved in the decision to dismiss Lattouf, as were the ABC’s chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor, and its head of audio content, Ben Latimer.
The four key people in the Antoinette Lattouf case, according to her barrister: David Anderson, Ita Buttrose, Ben Latimer, and Chris Oliver-Taylor.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
“We say that Mr Anderson and Mr Oliver-Taylor were decision makers in the conventional sense that they exercised authority to dismiss Ms Lattouf, and that Ms Buttrose and Mr Latimer were decision makers in the broader sense … being people who materially influenced the decision to dismiss,” Fagir said.
Fagir submitted that Anderson was a decision maker because he had a “right of veto” over Oliver-Taylor’s call to remove Lattouf, but he did not exercise it. This amounted to “an approval”, he said.
Buttrose brought “pressure” to bear on Anderson and Oliver-Taylor, Fagir said, including by emailing both of them, and “her conduct had a material effect on the ultimate outcome”.
“Ms Buttrose’s attitude never wavered at any point,” he said.
Fagir said the “group of campaigners” was also “materially influential”.
During a defiant stint in the witness box this month, Buttrose told the court that she did not want Lattouf taken off-air and “didn’t put pressure on anybody”.
She said an email in which she asked Anderson if Lattouf had been replaced and said she was “over getting emails about her” was a request for an update.
