00:00Justice Daryl Rangier this morning stepped through some key questions that he had to
00:06answer to get to the conclusion which he made in ruling in favour of Antoinette Latouf in
00:11this matter.
00:12The first big question was, was Antoinette Latouf terminated for legal purposes?
00:18The ABC argued that her employment contract was not terminated for legal purposes because
00:26they reserved the right in that contract to scale back her hours or her duties to nil
00:31and that's what they decided on the third day of her five-day stint as a casual radio
00:36presenter in 2023.
00:39Antoinette Latouf's lawyers argued that it was quite material to her contract and to her
00:44duties that she was a broadcaster and that her duty of broadcasting was no longer required.
00:51Therefore they argued that she was effectively terminated.
00:54So that was the first hurdle that Justice Daryl Rangier had to confront in this and he ruled
01:00in favour of Antoinette Latouf's side on that.
01:02The next big question that he had to answer was that if Antoinette Latouf was terminated,
01:07why was she terminated?
01:10Her lawyers argued that there was a concerted campaign against her for her political opinions
01:17by a group of what her lawyers argued were pro-Israel lobbyists who lobbied senior ABC executives,
01:23and that pressure was then applied down the line to have her taken off air.
01:29Whereas the ABC argued that she was taken off air because she breached a direction not to post
01:34anything on social media during her contract with the ABC.
01:38Now, throughout the trial, the judge heard evidence particularly about that matter from Antoinette
01:44Latouf and from her direct manager.
01:46That testimony was that she was advised not to post as opposed to explicitly directed and
01:53that there was an acknowledgement that she could post from reputable sources.
01:56So while Justice Rangier found that she posted that Human Rights Watch post on the Tuesday night
02:02without a real sort of consideration for the impact of her employer, but he ruled that it wasn't
02:09actually a breach of an explicit direction, and he sided with Antoinette Latouf's lawyers
02:15on that question.
02:16And then that brought him to the conclusion that she had been unlawfully terminated on
02:20the basis of her political opinion and awarded her $70,000 in damages.
02:26Now, that's where the legal proceedings have got to this point.
02:29Then comes the question of potential pecuniary penalties, which could be up to almost $100,000.
02:35And that's the maximum in these sort of cases.
02:39And they could be awarded to be paid either to the Commonwealth or to Antoinette Latouf herself.
02:44OK, interesting.
02:45That's still to come.
02:46What was the reaction from Ms Latouf?
02:48Well, when the decision was announced in the federal court in Sydney today, Antoinette
02:53Latouf's supporters in the room cheered and applauded that outcome.
02:58Speaking outside the court, Antoinette Latouf herself made a brief statement.
03:01She didn't take any questions, but she spoke about the lengthy legal process to this point
03:07and also spoke about the ongoing suffering in Gaza.
03:10In December 2023, I shared a Human Rights Watch post because Human Rights Watch found
03:17that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
03:21It is now June 2025 and Palestinian children are still being starved.
03:29We see their images every day, emaciated, skeletal, scavenging through the rubble for scraps.
03:38This unspeakable suffering is not accidental.
03:42It is engineered.
03:45Deliberately starving and killing children is a war crime.
03:47Today, the court has found that punishing someone for sharing facts about these war crimes
03:57is also illegal.
04:00I was punished for my political opinion.
04:04I won't be taking any questions.
04:07I'll have more to say in due time.
04:09Now, Antoinette Latouf's solicitor, Josh Bornstein, who's worked with her throughout this legal
04:15process, also spoke.
04:17He was particularly scathing of ABC's management.
04:20He said the organisation essentially folded from the top down.
04:24You will recall that after the decision to sack Latouf, the ABC board unanimously backed its
04:32management.
04:33So, this decision, this unlawful decision, goes right to the top of the ABC.
04:40So, Sean, what have we heard from the ABC management?
04:43Well, the ABC's current managing director, Hugh Marks, issued a statement earlier today
04:48that contained a direct apology to Antoinette Latouf.
04:52It also contained comments along the lines of that the correct processes in this matter
04:58weren't followed, and that led to negative outcomes.
05:01The managing director also acknowledged the cost to the broadcaster of litigating this matter.
05:07He said that many millions have been spent that shouldn't have been spent.
05:11He also claimed that the ABC had wanted to settle this matter earlier on, that it would
05:16have ideally done so.
05:17So, we know that there was a settlement offer made last year to the tune of around $80,000.
05:23But the matter still progressed to trial.
05:27So, he also, when asked, said that he didn't believe that there needed to be change at the
05:33ABC in terms of the processes in place, but he believed that those processes should be
05:38better followed.
05:38I don't think there's any change that's needed.
05:42I think the process is clear.
05:44There is a defined separation between management, between the conduct of the organisation and
05:50external forces.
05:51And look, at the end of the day, the proof will be in the pudding about how we act on
05:56that basis going forward.
05:57You know, our obligations are to ensure fairness, impartiality in our reporting and our coverage.
06:02So, now Antoinette Latouf's legal team have argued, have indicated that they will press
06:08forward with those pecuniary penalties.
06:12So, that'll be another lengthy and complicated legal process to come.
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