Presenter Antoinette Lattouf has declared she “will not stop” as her unfair dismissal case against the national broadcaster heads to trial.
Earlier this month, the Fair Work Commission determined the journalist had been fired by the ABC when she was taken off air in the wake of social media posts relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Ms Lattouf was sent home for the final two days of a five-day stint on ABC Radio’s Sydney Mornings program in December last year.
She claims she was unlawfully terminated after sharing a post on social media by Human Rights Watch that read: “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war”.
The journalist and her former employer met in the Federal Court on Tuesday for mediation to determine whether the unfair dismissal lawsuit could be resolved before heading to trial.
However, Ms Lattouf took to social media after only an hour to reveal the attempt had failed.
“Mediation has failed today which is incredibly disheartening,” she wrote.
“Despite how hard this has been on me and how unfair it is, let me be clear – I WILL NOT STOP.”
In the impassioned post on X (formerly Twitter), Ms Lattouf vowed to continue to advocate for press freedom and human rights.
“I won’t stop fighting for a brave and independent ABC, a public broadcaster that doesn’t bow to lobby groups,” the journalist pledged.
In a letter sent to ABC management and published in the Fair Work Commission judgment, Ms Lattouf claimed she was told “that Jewish lobbyists were unhappy that I was on air”.
She believes she was dismissed for expressing a political opinion on social media.
On Tuesday, the journalist said she was “buoyed by and grateful for so much public support” as well as support from her peers and the media union.
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au