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The Adelaide festival is facing an unprecedented leadership crisis after three board members resigned this weekend.
The journalist Daniela Ritorto, the Adelaide businesswoman Donny Walford and the lawyer Nick Linke have stepped down since the board’s controversial decision to dump the Palestinian Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah from the 2026 writers’ week program.
The sudden departures follow the withdrawal of more than 70 participants of next month’s festival events.
It remains unclear how the board will be able to reach a quorum, potentially paralysing its legal authority to make decisions for the 2026 event.
Under the Adelaide Festival Corporation Act 1998, the board must adhere to strict gender composition rules. With Linke’s departure, only one man, Adelaide airport’s managing director, Brenton Cox, remains. The act requires a minimum of two men and two women on the board.
The board has made no public comment since announcing the cancellation of Abdel-Fattah last Thursday.
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In that statement the board said it had been “shocked and saddened by the tragic events at Bondi” and the “significant heightening of both community tensions and the community debate”.
“As the Board responsible for the Adelaide Festival organisation and all Adelaide Writers’ Week events, staff, volunteers and participants, we have today advised scheduled writer Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah that the Board has formed the judgment that we do not wish to proceed with her scheduled appearance at next month’s Writers’ Week,” it said.
The board said while it did not suggest “in any way” that Abdel-Fattah or her writings had any connection with the tragedy at Bondi, the decision had been made “given her past statements”.
“We have formed the view that it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi,” it said.
Within hours of the board’s announcement, Abdel-Fattah issued her own statement, accusing the festival board of “blatant and shameless” anti-Palestinian racism and censorship. She said the board’s attempt to associate her with the Bondi massacre was “despicable”.
On Sunday the Sydney legal firm Marque, acting on behalf of Abdel-Fattah, wrote to the festival board chair, Tracey Whiting, demanding she provide each and every statement made by the academic that had played a part in the board’s decision to axe her from the 2026 program.
“Your letter notified Dr Abdel-Fattah of the board’s decision to exclude her from participating as a speaker at Adelaide Writers Week in 2026,” said the letter, from Marque’s managing partner, Michael Bradley.
“Your letter was the first indication she received that her participation was in question. There was no communication or consultation of any kind with her prior to the decision to exclude her.”
Bradley said the notification his client received from the board had provided no reason for its decision other than “it would not be culturally sensitive to proceed with [her] scheduled appearance”.
But in the public statement it issued on Thursday, Bradley noted, the board said it was her past statements that had informed the board’s decision it would be culturally insensitive to allow her participation, so soon after the Bondi terror attack.
“As a matter of basic procedural fairness to Dr Abdel-Fattah, please identify with specificity, each of the past statements made by her on which the board relied in making the decision,” the legal letter said.
“She is entitled to this information.”
The board has been given until 14 January to respond, along with a request to Whiting and her diminished board to retain all documents relating to the matter, for the purposes of possible litigation.
On Sunday Guardian Australia revealed that the board had resisted attempts to remove a pro-Israel columnist, Thomas Friedman, from the 2024 writers’ week program after he published a controversial column comparing the Middle East conflict to the animal kingdom.
