The ABC’s former chair Ita Buttrose and outgoing managing director David Anderson were key decision-makers in the sacking of Antoinette Lattouf, her lawyers will argue in a high-profile dispute.

Lattouf’s legal team updated its statement of claim on Monday morning after all evidence related to the looming Federal Court trial was filed. They now argue Buttrose and Anderson were central figures in the process of dismissing her.

“It’s our contention and will be our contention that Ms Buttrose, the chair of the ABC, and Mr Anderson, the managing director, were either themselves decision makers or materially involved in the decision-making process,” Lattouf’s barrister Philip Boncardo told the Federal Court instructions hearing.

The ABC’s contention is that its chief content officer Chris Oliver-Taylor was ultimately the sole decision maker.

“The respondent’s case is that the decision-maker was Mr. Oliver Taylor, and it puts in issue any suggestion that there was either another or other decision-makers, or that others had a material and legally significant involvement in the making of the decision,” said Ian Neil, SC, the ABC’s barrister.

Lattouf has brought the case against the ABC, arguing she was unlawfully terminated based on political opinion and or race, and that the decision to terminate her contract was in contravention of the public broadcaster’s enterprise agreement.

“We see from the respondent’s affidavits that a number of documents which go to the decision-making process involving, which [...] led to my client’s termination, including various complaints which were received by persons external to the ABC who engaged in what would perhaps be described as a campaign against my client, have been put into evidence,” Boncardo said.

Lattouf’s contract was terminated in December after she shared a Human Rights Watch post on Instagram with the caption “HRW reporting starvation as a tool of war” while employed by the ABC to cover the Sydney Radio Mornings show for one week. Lattouf claimed in her Fair Work submission that the ABC said the post breached its social media policies and cited it in its reasons for her dismissal.

Lattouf’s Fair Work application also claimed she was told by one of her managers that Jewish lobbyists were “unhappy” she was on the air because she had previously publicly criticised Israel.

In January, this masthead reported the contents of a pro-Israel WhatsApp group that showed organised efforts to target the ABC, in particular Buttrose and Anderson, with complaints about Lattouf and her views on the conflict in Gaza.

As of last week, all evidence related to the case has been filed, including signed affidavits from eight individuals related to the ABC, including Anderson and Buttrose. Both are expected to be cross-examined when the case is heard in February.

Both parties have filed settlement offers to date, with each being rejected. The ABC rejected Lattouf’s recent settlement request of $85,000, a public apology and reinstatement as a fill-in radio presenter, and put forward an undisclosed counter-offer.

The case moved to the Federal Court after the Fair Work Commission ruled Lattouf had, in fact, been sacked by the ABC, three days into a five-day contract in December. The ABC has argued she had not been sacked, and therefore the case should be thrown out.

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