'I felt heartbroken': Antoinette Lattouf breaks silence after ABC court ruling

Antoinette Lattouf has spoken publicly for the first time since the Federal Court ordered the ABC to pay her $150,000 in penalties over her unlawful termination, describing the experience as both painful and personal.

The former ABC presenter, who was dismissed in 2023, said taking on the broadcaster felt less like a legal dispute and more like a heartbreak.

“It would have been easier if it was Sky News or Rupert Murdoch,” she told LiSTNR's podcast The Beefing.

Instead, she likened it to a breakup with someone she deeply cared for. “I felt heartbroken, like an ex-boyfriend,” she said, adding that the ABC was an organisation she “really loved.”

She continued: "While I was always determined to keep going because I knew that I had done nothing wrong and that the ABC needs to be independent and fierce and not bound to lobby pressure, it was just so heartbreaking to keep going."

A legal battle with personal costs

The Federal Court’s ruling in late September found the ABC had acted unlawfully in its treatment of Lattouf, handing down $150,000 in pecuniary penalties in addition to earlier compensation. For Lattouf, the money was never the central issue.

“The ABC has spent well over $2 million of taxpayer money fighting me,” she said at the time of the decision, framing the case as a fight for accountability, integrity and public trust.

Beyond the payout

Lattouf said she had hoped the broadcaster would reconsider its stance long before the matter reached this point.

“I thought the ABC would at some point stop and apologise,” she reflected.

While the case has formally concluded in court, Lattouf’s remarks make clear that the impact of the dispute extends well beyond the ruling.

“I’m not just defending my case,” she said. “This is about how public institutions respond when the personal and political collide.”

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