Outgoing ABC chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor claimed he didn’t know radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf’s race or national extraction before her alleged unlawful termination, despite sending an email detailing her Lebanese background to the broadcaster’s managing director, a court has heard.
Ms Lattouf is suing the broadcaster in the Federal Court after she did not present a morning program on ABC Radio Sydney for the last two days of a five-day casual contract in December 2023.
That decision came after the journalist shared a Human Rights Watch post on her personal Instagram, which said starvation was being used as a tool of war in Gaza.
Her lawyers allege she was sacked due to her political opinions and/or race, which the ABC denies.
According to the ABC’s case, Mr Oliver-Taylor was the key decision-maker in her removal from the breakfast radio program.
Although the court also seen emails between former ABC chair Ita Buttrose and current managing director David Anderson discussing Ms Lattouf.
Mr Anderson previously told the court that Mr Oliver-Taylor made the decision to take Ms Lattouf off the air.
The former Netflix executive announced his resignation from the ABC in January after less than two years in the role.
Antoinette Lattouf has taken the ABC to court. (AAP: Bianca De Marchi)
Giving evidence on Friday, Mr Oliver-Taylor said under his role as head of the content division in December 2023 that he was responsible for about 1,000 mostly non-news staff, which included local radio.
Under questioning from Ms Lattouf’s lawyer Oshie Fagir, Mr Oliver-Taylor confirmed from his signed affidavit that he was not aware of Ms Lattouf’s race or national extraction before she was taken off-the-air.
Despite this, Mr Oliver-Taylor accepted that he had sent an email to Mr Anderson on December 18, 2023, which detailed Ms Lattouf’s Lebanese Christian background and that she is “child of Lebanese immigrants”.
In maintaining that he was unaware of Ms Lattouf’s background at the time, Mr Oliver-Taylor said that section of the email was “a complete copy and paste of an email” by former ABC Radio executive Steve Ahern, which he had “skim read”.
Not ‘highly abnormal’ but aspects were ‘highly unusual’
Under cross-examination, Mr Oliver-Taylor disagreed with the claim that the handling of Ms Lattouf’s employment was “highly abnormal”.
“Can I suggest this to you and tell me whether you agree or disagree, the way that the ABC dealt with Ms Lattouf in that week was highly abnormal?” Mr Fagir asked.
“Disagree,” Mr Oliver-Taylor replied.
Yet, Mr Oliver-Taylor agreed that it was “highly unusual” for both the chief content officer and the managing director to be involved in “scrutinising the conduct of a casual employee on a five-day contract”.
Mr Oliver-Taylor also said that he did not consult with the People and Culture department, which is the ABC’s workplace culture and workforce team, about Ms Lattouf’s personal use of social media.
An email written by acting-editorial director Simon Melkman to Mr Oliver-Taylor and Mr Ahern was later read to the court, where Mr Melkman said it would be worth “treading carefully” over any disciplinary action taken against Ms Lattouf and that it would also be worth “looping in” the People and Culture department.
The hearing before Justice Darryl Rangiah continues.
