Pro-Israel lobbyists harassed for complaining about an ABC radio host’s views on Palestine want another media company prosecuted for revealing their names.
Antoinette Lattouf was ousted from her casual position on ABC Radio Sydney’s Mornings program in December 2023.
Last month, she was awarded $70,000 for her unlawful termination.
Federal Court Justice Darryl Rangiah found the national broadcaster removed Lattouf from air following pressure from an orchestrated campaign by pro-Israel lobbyists.
Nine of those who complained had their names suppressed in February as the hearing started.
The group returned to court on Monday, asking Rangiah to refer Nine-owned newspapers to a registrar for prosecution for alleged contempt of court.
Prominent barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC argued at an earlier hearing that Nine failed to promptly take down or amend January 2024 articles published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that included the names of four individuals who complained.
It took the publisher six weeks to remove the names despite repeated letters, she said.
A separate article by the Nine-owned Pedestrian TV that also identified some of the complainants was taken down in April.
There had been no apology nor a promise to not divulge the names in the future.
“All of the respondents are completely unrepentant in relation to the infringement of the order,” Chrysanthou said in June.
The contempt case has also been brought against journalists Michael Bachelard and Calum Jaspan, editors Bevan Shields and Patrick Elligett and Nine’s in-house lawyers Larina Alick and Sam White.
Nine’s barrister Tom Blackburn SC denied any contempt at all when the hearing continued on Monday.
His clients could not have breached the court’s order suppressing any names or identities because the wording did not specify who the order related to, he said.
‘It’s just impossible that there could be a wilful and contumacious contempt in this case in circumstances where we didn’t know who the protected people were,” Blackburn said.
The case against the two journalists was “utterly hopeless” as neither had the power to remove or amend the articles, Blackburn said.
There were similar submissions regarding the “incoherent” case brought against the two in-house lawyers.
Blackburn argued it should not be referred to a registrar and that the pro-Israel group should be made to pay his clients’ legal costs.
Chrysanthou urged Rangiah to refer the matter on, saying he only needed to be convinced there was an arguable case of contempt.
Nine knew exactly who the suppression order referred to and eventually removed the precise names of the complainants from the articles, she said.
Rangiah will deliver his decision at a later date.
-AAP
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