ABC’s departing boss finds himself in the last place he wanted to be

The ABC’s lawyers had already outlined their argument that the decision to remove Latouff sat with its content boss, Chris Oliver-Taylor. All a bespectacled Anderson, in his blue suit and tie, had to do in court on Wednesday was reprise his Senate performances, with his customary low-key demeanour.

Lattouf’s barrister, Oshie Fagir, had other ideas.

“Do you regard this as an impartial statement? Australia is a racist country,” Fagir asked, referencing the controversial comment by ABC’s star political reporter Laura Tingle.

“I have no problem with that statement, because it is based in fact, that we have a history of racism,” Anderson replied.

A more intriguing query about the impartiality related to another prominent ABC personality’s tweet about the Gaza conflict: “Israel is killing journalists again,” Paul Barry tweeted last October.

“You haven’t spent an evening reviewing Paul Barry’s tweets?” Fagir asked. “No, I haven’t,” Anderson responded.

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The contrast with Lattouf’s treatment was awkward to say the least.

But the most problematic answer for Anderson, and the ABC, may be his response to whether proper procedure was followed when it came to Lattouf’s abrupt departure, including whether she was properly directed to stop social media posts.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. You would like to have seen that there was certainly a discussion with Ms Lattouf, to find out the motivation behind what I believed at the time was disobeying direction,” Anderson said.

He batted this grenade to Oliver-Taylor, who is to appear before court later this week. “Chris was empowered to make a decision … I can’t second guess that decision,” he said.

Anderson announced his resignation last August, barely a year into a five-year contract extension by the ABC’s then chair, Ita Buttrose, who announced soon after that she would not seek a second term. She was replaced by Kim Williams in March last year.

Anderson ends his reign as ABC managing director at the end of this month but will be on hand for an indefinite transition period for new MD Hugh Marks, who is due to start on March 10.

But that will not be front of mind for him as he returns to court on Thursday.

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