Warning: Graphic content
It was an action-packed morning at Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
If you’re just joining us now, Jones’ long-time talkback colleague at 2GB, Ray Hadley, returned to the witness box today after a brief stint on Tuesday.
Ray Hadley arrives at court on Wednesday.Dominic Lorrimer
Hadley has given evidence that complainant “C”, one of six men who has accused Jones of unwanted touching and kissing, confided in him in late 2019 about the alleged indecent assaults. Jones denies the allegations.
Hadley is now being cross-examined by Jones’ barrister Gabrielle Bashir, SC. She is expected to put to him that he encouraged “C” to make the allegations about Jones because the two broadcasters were professional rivals, but she has yet to launch this line of questioning.
Hadley revealed during his cross-examination that he signed a “secret contract” in late 2018 to take over Jones’ breakfast radio slot at 2GB from July 2019, after he was approached by John Singleton.Singleton was then a major shareholder in Macquarie Media, the company that owned 2GB.He said the deal fell over when Singleton sold down his stake in Macquarie Media to Nine Entertainment, the owner of this masthead, but that he insisted 2GB honour the agreement to double his salary from $2 million to $4 million.Nine has since sold its radio division, and Hadley retired from the airwaves in 2024.Hadley denied that he regarded the breakfast slot as the pinnacle of professional achievement and said he was motivated by money when he signed the deal.He denied that it was a difficult time for him when Jones re-signed his contract for two years in May 2019, saying: “Inadvertently Mr Jones had doubled my salary for doing the same job.”Hadley told the court that a 2GB employee told him in about 2019 that Alan Jones had “marshalled the troops and said, ‘dig up some dirt on Hadley’.” Bashir asked if he had come to court to discredit that 2GB employee. “Not at all, I’ve come here to tell the truth, I’m under oath,” Hadley responded.Hadley has agreed that he called Jones many derogatory names over the years, and said they had a “tumultuous relationship”. He was taken to a text exchange he had with Jones in 2019 when Jones was sick. Jones had said he had been “crook as Rookwood”, in a reference to the Sydney cemetery. Hadley had joked in response that he loved Jones “above ground”.
The hearing will resume after the lunch break, at 2pm.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.