Fired ABC radio host Antoinette Lattouf has given the broadcaster a three-part ultimatum in exchange for waiving legal proceedings.
Her legal team, led by Josh Bornstein of law firm Maurice Blackburn, offered the ABC a “modest” compromise last week after mediation talks failed in June.
Lattouf was dumped in December over her reporting on the war in Gaza, just three days into her job as a fill-in on ABC Radio Sydney’s morning show.
She took legal action against the ABC through the Fair Work Commission, claiming the decision was political, based on her views on Palestine and her Lebanese heritage.
Lattouf has said she is willing to avoid a costly lawsuit in federal court if ABC awards her $85,000, makes a public apology and reinstates her as a fill-in radio host.
Mr Bornstein’s letter to the ABC argued that the settlement reflected what Lattouf “could be awarded at trial if successful”, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He added that if the offer were rejected, the government-funded national broadcaster would have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees to defend its client.
“It is in the interests of both parties, and in particular your client, that a solution is found quickly and pragmatically to conclude the proceedings,” the letter states.
Former ABC radio host Antoinette Lattouf (pictured) has sought $85,000 in damages, a public apology and reinstatement to her position to drop the lawsuit.
“A protracted legal dispute is not in the interest of the ABC or Ms. Lattouf.”
Lattouf said she supported a public broadcaster that used taxpayer money to inform and entertain the public rather than pay for legal fees.
“I have done nothing wrong and yet I am being punished,” she said.
‘It has been a stressful seven months in which I have fought without fear or prejudice for journalism, for my career, reputation and mental health.
“But it’s all worth fighting for. I look forward to moving forward.”
Lattouf was fired shortly after she finished her broadcast and hours after a member of a Jewish WhatsApp group called for a day of action against her.
The ABC said the source of the complaints was not relevant to the broadcaster’s procedures and argued that Lattouf had not been removed solely because of her posts.
“The ABC operates a transparent complaints procedure and responds accordingly, regardless of the source of the complaint,” a spokesperson said at the time.
Lattouf is suing the national broadcaster after she claimed she was fired in December over social media posts expressing support for the Palestinians (pictured: ABC office in Ultimo, Sydney)
Lattouf caused a media storm last month after using an insult against ABC viewers, which has since been removed.
In an opinion piece for Nine Newspapers, she called the broadcaster’s older audience the “colostomy bag crowd”.
Journalist Lucie Morris-Marr condemned it as “one of the most appalling, insulting and nasty statements I have ever heard as a young bowel cancer patient who struggled with this statement for a year following emergency surgery”.
The words were later cut from the online version of the Sydney Morning Herald column, but it was too late for the print version.