Journalist faces hostile questioning from former employer’s barrister as she sues for wrongful dismissal

Ian Neil SC had begun calmly.

“You understand, don’t you, that we appear for the ABC, the respondent and your former employer, and that we are now going to cross-examine you,” he said in a quiet voice.

It was the last gentle moment in an otherwise tense Monday afternoon in the federal court in Sydney that saw Antoinette Lattouf, the journalist suing the national broadcaster for unfair dismissal, subjected to detailed and at times hostile questioning for two hours.

When she took the stand on Monday – the first witness called on the first day of a trial that is expected to last for more than a week – Lattouf would have known she was in for a fight.

She has been subject to questioning by Neil before, in a tense hearing before the Fair Work Commission a year ago. Just a few questions into Monday’s cross-examination it was clear this was going to be another testy session.

Lattouf claims she was sacked from a five-day presenting gig on ABC Radio Sydney in December 2023. She maintains she was terminated after three shifts, after she reposted a video from Human Rights Watch on her personal Instagram page that said: “The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war in Gaza.”

The ABC denied she was sacked because she was paid for the full five days of her contract. The Fair Work Commission found last year that she had been sacked, triggering her unlawful dismissal case.

Much of Monday’s questioning revolved around Lattouf’s Instagram posts, both the one at the heart of the case, and others shared by Lattouf relating to the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Neither Neil nor Lattouf were going to concede ground without a fight. Lattouf weighed each question carefully before answering.

“Human Rights Watch is a private non-government organisation. Is that correct?” Neil asked her early in the session.

“I’m not sure,” Lattouf said carefully. “I mean, I know it’s an independent, respected non-government organisation.”

“Do you not know that Human Rights Watch is a private non-government organisation?” said Neil.

“I know it’s non-government. I’m not sure about whether it’s privately incorporated,” Lattouf shot back.

Lattouf asked for a number of Neil’s questions to be repeated, something that seemed to irritate Neil, even when his questions were lengthy and hard to follow.

At one point Neil asked her: “When you wrote and when you caused those words, the words in paragraph five, to be published on Instagram, did you do so knowing or appreciating that you would reasonably be associated by at least some people reading those words with the view that Israel’s occupation constituted apartheid?”

“I’m sorry I don’t understand that question and how it differs from the question prior,” said Lattouf.

“Don’t worry about the last part,” Neil said. “What part of the question didn’t you understand? This is the question, just listen to the words of the question.”

Fifteen minutes later, Neil asked her about a comment on social media: “Is what we see there your response?”

“Yes, it was a satirical response,” Lattouf said.

“The question was: is what we see there your response to that comment?” Neil said. “The answer is yes. I didn’t ask you whether it was satirical, did I?”

At one point, Neil interrupted Lattouf as she tried to answer. Her barrister objected.

“She’s been cut off,” Oshie Fagir said. “She should be allowed to answer the questions.”

Justice Darryl Rangiah agreed: “Please, Mr Neil, presumably you ask a question because you want an answer to it. If you cut the witness off halfway through the answer, then it doesn’t assist me.”

Neil paused. “I’m duly chastised,” he said, bowing to the unimpressed-looking judge.

Outside the court, two members of the public, waving Palestinian flags and holding signs expressing support for Lattouf, waited much of the day.

Inside the courtroom, which was standing room only, were some of Lattouf’s supporters, including her husband, who nodded support to her and occasionally shook his head indignantly at Neil’s questioning.

One member of the public broke into loud applause at the end of a video played during proceedings. Lattouf had posted the video to Instagram in 2023 and discussed an open letter she had signed calling on the media to improve the way it covered the war in Gaza.

“Excuse me!” the judge rebuked the clapping woman sternly.

“Sorry, I just got a bit emotional there,” she said.

“Well you’ll have to control yourself otherwise you’ll have to leave the courtroom.”

Lattouf’s cross-examination will resume on Tuesday.