Maurice Blackburn’s principal lawyer, Josh Bornstein — who also acted for Antoinette Lattouf in her wrongful termination case against ABC — has slammed the broadcaster’s new public comment rules for its staff.
Months after the broadcaster lost in Lattouf’s wrongful termination Federal Court case against them, ABC released its “public comment guidelines” for employees.
In response to the broadcaster’s new guidelines, Bornstein claimed its new set of rules didn’t provide clear instructions to employees on “what type of conduct” would be considered a breach of the guidelines.
“The new rules are straight out of a corporate brand management textbook. In the words of the Federal Court in Ridd vs QCU, the rules ‘are couched in vague and imprecise language,’” Bornstein told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“This means that they will be likely to be deployed selectively, capriciously and possibly illegally when bad faith complaints are made to the ABC. In other words, the same malaise that has enfeebled the ABC in recent decades.”
He also slammed ABC’s management for their “alleged inconsistent application” of how its guidelines would affect its current and former journalists, mentioning that reporters like Tom Switzer, Waleed Aly, and Amanda Vanstone were able to display partial positions on an array of topics.
“There are other very high-profile and brilliant ABC journalists who have penned feminist books,” he continued.
Bornstein then referred to the broadcaster’s loss in the Lattouf’s Federal Court case, highlighting that the trial highlighted “enormous confusion amongst senior managers about the requirements of ABC legislation and its own policies”.
To give you a quick recap, Lattouf was sacked by the ABC — whom she worked for as a casual presenter on ABC Radio Sydney on a five-day contract — after she shared a “controversial” social media post in 2023. In June of this year, Federal Darry Rangiah found that the broadcaster had contravened the law by terminating her employment for “reasons including that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza”.
“The new rules suggest that not much has changed,” he added.
What’s highlighted in ABC’s public comment guidelines?
In the new public comment guidelines, ABC employees are expected not to make any public comments — including remarks made on social media, public events or in any space where it may “reasonably” be expected to reach the public — that:
- “Undermines your perceived or actual ability to perform your role.
- Undermines the independence or integrity of the ABC or any ABC editorial content.
- Implies ABC endorsement of your personal views.
- Is on behalf of the ABC, or in a way that could be seen as representing the ABC, without prior authorisation.”
Per The Guardian, ABC’s managing director, Hugh Marks, confirmed that the guidelines would include messages sent on WhatsApp.
Bornstein is not the only one who has issues with ABC’s new guidelines. The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s (MEAA) media director, Cassie Derrick, agreed with Bornstein’s concerns, stating the guidelines “doubles down on the punitive approach the national broadcaster has taken for some time towards its staff, and appears to be a mechanism to further entrench insecurity within the workforce”.
“Journalists at the ABC are deeply committed to upholding public trust through providing ethical, fair and accurate journalism and storytelling to the public. Every day they face attack from external stakeholders,” Derrick told the SMH.
“While the policy provides some clarity around what employees are deemed ‘high risk’ in relation to what staff can and can’t say publicly, in doing so, it appears to target particular ABC staff based on how public-facing they are, rather in what level of control they have over the editorial process.”
Derrick adds that the new policy “does nothing but continue to push risk down on workers” and that the MEAA are urging ABC management to create a policy that protects the broadcaster and its employees.
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to ABC for comment. However, a spokesperson for the broadcaster told The Guardian that many people — including staff — provided feedback on the guidelines.
“Editorial staff providing news and information services have a particular responsibility to be mindful that the ABC’s impartiality – and their own and that of their colleagues — is not undermined,” the spokesperson told the publication.
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