Markets 
Former talkback giant Ray Hadley said in a text message to an alleged victim of unwanted kissing and touching by Alan Jones that the broadcaster “needs to be destroyed” and vowed to tear his supporters apart, a court has heard.
In explosive evidence on Wednesday in Jones’ criminal trial, Hadley agreed he texted a man who had made allegations against Jones to The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023: “That c— will be in the foetal position when he reads the story in the morning. It’s been 50 years in the making.”
Hadley, a former long-time colleague of Jones at 2GB, has testified in the Downing Centre Local Court that one of Jones’ accusers, dubbed complainant “C”, told him in October 2019 that Jones had “put his hand on my c— and kissed me” on a number of occasions some years earlier.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent spanning six male complainants and a 17-year period from 2003 to 2020. Jones denies any of the alleged physical acts occurred.
Hadley agreed during cross-examination by Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, that he said in a message about Jones to “C” on October 19, 2019: “This bloke needs to be destroyed.”
The court heard Hadley texted “C” before the 2023 Herald article that “one by one I’ll tear his supporters apart”, with a “special mention for one bloke who said he never saw any evidence of the behaviour”.
Asked if this was a reference to the former 2GB host Jason Morrison, Hadley said: “I can’t recall. I don’t know.”
He agreed that in a later message, he referred to Morrison as a “f—ing dog”.
Morrison has given evidence in the trial and has vehemently denied witnessing an alleged incident involving Jones touching “C” on the penis over his clothing at a lunch in Sydney almost 20 years ago.
Hadley agreed he had not produced to the court his text messages with “C” after being subpoenaed for the communications. However, “C” had produced that material, the court heard.
The court heard that Hadley appeared to say in one text message to “C” in 2019: “… and Jones outed as … [a gay slur].”
“I don’t usually use that word,” Hadley said, but he agreed he appeared to use it in this message.
Asked if he harboured animosity towards Jones at this time, he said that he “wasn’t happy with him” and “probably, yes”.
The ‘secret contract’ to take Jones’ slot
Earlier in his evidence, Hadley told the court he inked a “secret contract” in December 2018 to take over Jones’ breakfast radio slot from July 2019 and double his salary to $4 million.
Hadley told the court the contract fell through when the chief proponent of the deal, John Singleton, sold down his stake in Macquarie Media, then the owner of 2GB.
The former 2GB host rejected a suggestion by Bashir that he regarded the breakfast slot as the pinnacle of radio positions, saying his increase in value from $2 million to $4 million was the lure.
“The money made me do it,” he said. “I didn’t pursue it, they came to me.”
Asked if it was a secret contract, Hadley said: “It was indeed.” He denied he coveted the breakfast slot.
‘Mr Jones had doubled my salary’
Hadley said he insisted on the value of the contract being fulfilled after the deal fell through. “I said, ‘I’ll do midnight to dawn if you want me to’,” he told the court.
He denied 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.”
Singleton sold his shares in Macquarie Media to Nine Entertainment, the owner of this masthead, for about $80 million in September 2019. Nine has since sold its radio division. Hadley retired from the airwaves in 2024.
Jones retired in 2020 and was replaced by Ben Fordham as 2GB’s breakfast host.
Hadley said that in March 2019 Macquarie Radio executive Russell Tate told him that Nine’s then-chairman Peter Costello wanted Jones to stay in the breakfast slot.
“They said, ‘if you don’t stand down, you’re going to cost Singo $80 million’. Well, Singo was a friend of mine, so I said I’d stand down,” Hadley said.
The former broadcaster said talkback host Chris Smith had got wind of the secret deal before its demise and had asked him about it in a 2GB bathroom after he “checked the cubicles” were empty.
‘Dig up some dirt on Hadley’
The evidence about the “secret contract” came to light during Hadley’s cross-examination. Bashir put to Hadley repeatedly that he harboured animosity towards her client.
Hadley said they had a “tumultuous” relationship, and agreed that it was “quite likely” he had told police in 2019 that he had said to Jones that he was a “c— and a dog”.
Hadley said he had gone to the police after a 2GB employee had alleged he had assaulted him in the work corridor. CCTV footage was checked by the HR department, he said, which showed Hadley “never went close” to the staff member.
He said that another 2GB staffer had told him around this time that “Mr Jones had marshalled the troops and said, ‘dig up some dirt on Hadley’.”
Hadley’s contact with the Herald
Hadley was also cross-examined about his contact in 2019 with author and journalist Peter FitzSimons, a columnist at the Herald. The court has heard that “C” later agreed to speak to the Herald’s Kate McClymont in 2023.
Hadley agreed he called FitzSimons with “C” on October 16, 2019, and was present as the complainant spoke to him. The complainant did not reveal his identity and the court has heard his allegations were not published at that time.
“Peter FitzSimons was, to your knowledge, notoriously anti-Mr Jones?” Bashir asked.
“Probably not as much as he was anti-me, but anyway,” Hadley replied.
He agreed he told “C” that “Peter was sniffing” for a story about Jones. Bashir put to him that FitzSimons had “an interest in bringing down Mr Jones”.
“Well, the story he was talking to me about, I suspect that would have been the end result, yes,” Hadley said.
A wink in court
In an unusual exchange with Bashir, Hadley admitted he had winked at someone in the public gallery he had mistakenly believed was a Herald reporter who had “called me … I think ‘scruffy’” in a news article. He said he did not know the journalist.
A report on Tuesday by this masthead referred to him as speaking “gruffly”.
“Didn’t you just say that you had a call from someone at The Sydney Morning Herald?” Bashir asked.
“No, I said that she wrote a report about me and called me a certain thing,” Hadley said.
The judge referred to the sheriff for investigation any phone contact between Hadley and any journalist on Tuesday about his evidence. No Herald journalist covering the trial has had contact with Hadley.
Hadley said that he did not speak to any reporter about his evidence on Tuesday. He told the court he did speak to McClymont about the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry that she was covering.
Hadley is obliged not to discuss his evidence in the trial while he remains under oath but is free to discuss other matters.
The trial continues.
Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.
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.
From our partners
Read the full article here
