“I want to suggest to you that you had taken it upon yourself to forward these complaints to Mr Oliver Taylor [ABC chief content officer], to make it clear to him that you were displeased about Ms Lattouf’s continued engagement on air,” Philip Boncardo, Lattouf’s barrister says.
“That’s not correct,” Buttrose replies. “I simply forwarded them on to Chris Oliver Taylor for him to deal with, which is the procedure that I’d followed for five years with no complaints from anyone.”
Buttrose is now asked about lunch she had with David Anderson at Luke’s Kitchen in Sydney on Wednesday December 20, during which the decision to take Lattouf off air was made by Oliver-Taylor.
She says this was the pair’s Christmas lunch, during which they “tend not to talk about work”.
Buttrose says she was unaware that Anderson received a call from Oliver-Taylor during this lunch.
“David told me that in the car on the way back after lunch. I think it’s fair to say he was as suprised as I was,” Buttrose says.
