TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Australian journalist Antoinette Lattouf has won an unlawful termination case against the public broadcaster ABC and has been awarded a compensation of AUD 70,000, or around Rp741 million, local media reported on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, as cited by Anadolu.
The Federal Court found that ABC breached the Fair Work Act by terminating her employment on the grounds of "political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza," according to ABC News.
Lattouf, a Lebanese-Australian journalist, was employed by ABC for five days in December 2023. However, she was fired just three days into the job after sharing an Instagram post by Human Rights Watch about the war in Gaza.
The post was titled "HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war," which ABC deemed a violation of its editorial policies.
The international human rights organization had published a study detailing how Israeli authorities used starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
Lattouf sued for unfair dismissal, stating that she was fired because of her political views and her ethnicity after lobbying from pro-Israel groups.
ABC faces the prospect of further penalties, as the case will return to court at the end of the year to decide whether the broadcaster should be fined.
Lattouf declined to answer media queries but said that she would make further statements in the near future.
"Today the court has found that punishing someone for sharing facts about these war crimes is also illegal," she said in a brief statement as reported by News.com.au. "I was punished for my political opinion."
In February, it was revealed that ABC had spent taxpayer funds amounting to AUD 1.1 million to defend the case. They had previously rejected offers from Lattouf's team to settle the case for a compensation of AUD 85,000.
Lattouf's solicitor, Josh Bornstein, said that ABC had "discredited" his client and described ABC's actions as "incredibly demoralizing and distressing."
In a statement, ABC managing director Hugh Marks apologized to Lattouf. "In this case the judge found the correct processes weren’t followed and, consequently, errors were made," he said.
"We regret how the decision to remove Ms. Lattouf from air was handled and the distress occasioned her. We extend our sincere apologies to Ms. Lattouf."
Israeli forces have been launching brutal attacks on Gaza since October 2023, killing over 56,000 Palestinian citizens, most of whom are women and children.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war in that region.
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