ABC executive Chris Oliver-Taylor tells court he was unaware of Antoinette Lattouf’s race

Outgoing ABC chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor accepts there was “pressure from above” to replace radio presenter Antoinette Lattouf despite receiving advice there was no evidence or reason to remove her at the time, 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 has 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.

ABC executive said he felt ‘pressure from above’

Giving evidence on Friday, Mr Oliver-Taylor said Mr Anderson forwarded him an email from Ms Buttrose on the evening of Tuesday December 19, where she had asked: “Has she [Ms Lattouf] been replaced yet?”

The court heard Mr Anderson replied to that email stating that Ms Lattouf would finish up on Friday with a “managed exit”, a term Mr Oliver-Taylor claimed in court that he did not understand.

Mr Fagir then read out Mr Oliver-Taylor’s response to Mr Anderson’s email, where the content director said “the blowback will be phenomenal” if Ms Lattouf was removed and recommended “we hold till Friday”, which was the scheduled end of her five-day contract.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s a right course of action,” Mr Oliver-Taylor’s email read.

Ms Lattouf was told on the Wednesday afternoon she would not present the final two breakfast programs that week.

The hearing was told that Mr Oliver-Taylor had sent his email based on the advice of acting-editorial director Simon Melkman, who said there was no evidence to remove Ms Lattouf.

The court heard Mr Oliver-Taylor then started to receive direct emails from Ms Buttrose and said that he had “no idea” why she suggested that he had been nominated as the person specifically dealing with the matter.

“What I did know was that it will be unusual for the chair to write to me in this manner,” Mr Oliver Taylor said.

Mr Oliver-Taylor agreed that he was stuck between a “rock and a hard place” given the pressure he was receiving.

“The published news meant that it was a very difficult decision that my colleagues had made, so there was pressure there, and I feel due diligence was not done as it should have been,” he said.

 “And then there was pressure from above I accept that.

“There was a clear view from others within the ABC, senior members of the ABC that we potentially had put on air on live radio, someone who had published views that would then risk the impartiality of the ABC.

 “But I had no evidence or reason at this point in time to remove Ms Lattouf from air.”

Mr Oliver-Taylor said he was unaware of Lattouf’s race

The court heard no communication was made with ABC’s legal team, before she was removed, to check if she had breached the ABC editorial policies or her contract.

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 Mr 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 Mr 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.

Late on Friday, Mr Oliver-Taylor faced heated questioning that Ms Lattouf was going to be taken off air no matter the advice.

“In your mind, what the MD [managing director] and the chair wanted was to get this Lebanese woman that had expressed views critical of Israel off the ABC?” Mr Fagir said.

“I disagree,” Mr Oliver-Taylor replied.

He argued he had tried to “protect” Ms Lattouf and keep her on-air for as long as possible.

The court heard no communication was made with ABC’s legal team before her departure to check if she had breached the ABC editorial policies or her contract.

The hearing before Justice Darryl Rangiah continues.