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Former 2GB heavyweight Ray Hadley has told a court he believed Alan Jones was targeting him after he signed a secret contract to take over Jones’ breakfast radio slot.
Hadley concluded his testimony on Thursday in Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial with evidence about his “tumultuous” relationship with his long-time 2GB colleague.
“Our relationship was very complicated,” he told the Downing Centre Local Court. “We went from being very close to being very distant.”
Hadley said that he credited much of his professional success to Jones, and he was “appreciative for what he did for me as a broadcaster”. But the pair had also had “stand-up brawls”, he said.
Asked why he may have harboured animosity towards Jones as at October 2019, Hadley said that “I’d been targeted by Mr Jones when he found out that I’d signed a contract [in December 2018] to take his position, even though I never took his position.”
Hadley told the court he surmised that Jones felt he was disloyal for signing that contract. He had previously given evidence that a 2GB staffer had told him that Jones had “marshalled the troops and said, ‘dig up some dirt on Hadley’.”
Hadley revealed during his cross-examination on Wednesday that he had inked a “secret” contract in December 2018 to take over Jones’ breakfast slot from July 2019. The deal did not proceed, but he told the court he insisted 2GB honour the promised doubling of his salary to $4 million.
At the conclusion of his cross-examination on Thursday, Hadley rejected a suggestion by Jones’ barrister that he had given untruthful evidence about a meeting he said he had in 2019 with complainant “C”, one of six men who has accused Jones of unwanted kissing and touching.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent relating to six male complainants. Of the 22 charges, eight relate to “C”. Jones denies any of the alleged physical acts occurred.
Hadley told the court that “C” confided in him in October 2019 that Jones had “put his hand on my c— and kissed me” on a number of occasions some years earlier.
After the cross-examination concluded, prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, asked Hadley a series of questions in re-examination, including about explosive text messages aired in court on Wednesday.
Asked why he said in a text to complainant “C” in October 2019 that Jones “needs to be destroyed”, Hadley said this was “for what he did” to the complainant.
“I said I’d stick by him, and I’d support him in every way, no matter what course of action he decided to take, and that’s why I’m here today,” Hadley said.
On Wednesday, the court heard that Hadley had not produced to the court any text messages between him and “C” after being subpoenaed for the communications.
Hadley said on Thursday his lawyer had written to the court that his phone with the text messages had been handed back to 2GB when he retired from the airwaves in 2024.
During his evidence, Hadley was also shown a partial message he allegedly sent “C” in October 2019, in which he appeared to use a homophobic slur to refer to Jones. He said on Thursday the context of the message doesn’t “make any sense”.
He had previously given evidence that this was not a word he ordinarily used.
The court has heard Hadley sent “C” expletive-laden texts about Jones in December 2023 before this masthead published an article by chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont revealing the complainant’s allegations against the broadcaster.
“That c— will be in the foetal position when he reads the story in the morning,” Hadley wrote. “It’s been 50 years in the making.”
In another message to “C” that month, Hadley said: “The low c— …[he’s] not just taking on victims, he’s taking on me and Kate. I won’t rest until we bury him, figuratively speaking or literally.”
Asked by Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, if the “we” was him and the complainant, Hadley said: “I think it was probably me and Kate McClymont.”
He told the court that he “didn’t even know [the complainant] was releasing the story to Kate McClymont” until it had happened.
Later on Thursday, a witness who was allegedly present at a lunch where “C” has alleged Jones touched him inappropriately started giving evidence. The evidence was cut short after a legal issue arose.
The trial continues.
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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.
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