Ita Buttrose has denied pressuring out an “activist” from her fill-in radio presenting role over the sharing of a post on the Gaza war, telling a court she should never have been employed in the first place.

Antoinette Lattouf was recruited to host the Mornings show on ABC Radio Sydney for five days in December 2023, 

However, the 41-year-old was let go following three days on air after sharing an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch saying Israel used starvation as a “weapon of war” in Gaza.

Buttrose, the then-ABC chair, gave evidence in Lattouf’s unlawful dismissal case on Tuesday, denying she had used her position to oust the freelance journalist after receiving a torrent of complaints. 

“I didn’t wish her to be removed, I didn’t put pressure on anybody,” she told Lattouf’s barrister Philip Boncardo.  

“It’s a fantasy of your own imagination.” 

In an email to now-outgoing ABC managing director David Anderson two days after Lattouf had started her shifts, Ms Buttrose said she was over getting complaints. 

She asked whether the radio host could come down with COVID-19, the flu or a stomach bug. 

The ex-chair denied being hostile or antagonistic towards Lattouf, telling the Federal Court that coming down sick was just a “face-saving option” to give the journalist an easy exit. 

“Why did Ms Lattouf need to save face?” asked Boncardo.

 “It looked like she was going to lose her job,” Buttrose replied.

She accused Lattouf of not being honest when she was hired by failing to say that she was an activist who was critical of Israel.

The ABC was not the place for activists of any kind to work, she told the court.

Despite her elevated position, the then-chair personally took the time to respond to numerous complaints and forwarded them to content chief Chris Oliver-Taylor who was tasked with looking into the matter.

Lattouf alleges that she was fired because of her political opinion and race after the ABC bowed to pressure from pro-Israeli lobbyists who co-ordinated the campaign of complaints.

She is seeking compensation and penalties against the broadcaster.

The ABC is defending the case, saying she ignored a direction not to post anything on the Israel-Gaza conflict while working on Mornings.

In late-2023, chief political correspondent and staff-elected member of the ABC board Laura Tingle wrote to Buttrose calling Lattouf’s dismissal a “spectacular error of judgment”.

“It leaves both Antoinette and the ABC suffering reputational damage,” she wrote.

After Lattouf’s dismissal, Buttrose received thanks from one of the people who complained.

Forwarding this onto Anderson the then-chair wrote: “It’s nice to get congratulatory emails.”

Former head of capital city networks Steve Ahern earlier said he wasn’t surprised by Oliver-Taylor’s suggestion his decision to hire Lattouf was “ill-informed”.

“I was disappointed by the characterisation of me making an ill-informed decision, but that’s the way these things go,” he said.

He denied feeling pressure from the criticism or that he considered disciplinary action could have been taken against him as a result.

The ABC also withdrew its defence that Lattouf’s racial discrimination case should fail because she had not proved that there was a Lebanese, Middle-Eastern or Arab race or national extraction.

The public broadcaster also made a formal apology after confidential information relating to those who complained about Lattouf’s views on the war in Gaza was accidentally disclosed to the public.

The details, which were suppressed by the Federal Court for the individuals’ safety, were revealed on Monday in an affidavit by Oliver-Taylor.

Justice Darryl Rangiah expressed his displeasure that the details had been leaked, saying he was “deeply unhappy” with the ABC’s legal team.

ABC barrister Ian Neil SC apologised personally and on behalf of the organisation, saying the mistake was a result of human error.

-AAP