00:01Ray Hadley has actually completed giving evidence after a total of less than two days in the witness box.
00:08He was excused from court this morning and spoke briefly to the media as he left Downing Centre local court
00:15here in Sydney.
00:16He didn't say too much though. He said he didn't want to say anything that could jeopardise the rest of
00:21this legal proceeding which he says was incredibly important.
00:24But what he did say in court I can report on and he did speak a lot about his tumultuous
00:30relationship and complicated relationship with his former counterpart Alan Jones who he hosted together at 2GB.
00:38Alan Jones hosted the breakfast program followed by Ray Hadley's mornings program.
00:43Now Ray Hadley has been called into this trial to give evidence in relation to one of Alan Jones's six
00:49male complainants and that complainant is known as C.
00:52It's alleged that complainant C confided in Ray Hadley in 2019 alleging that he had been groped and kissed on
01:00the mouth multiple times without consent by Mr Jones when he was a younger colleague of the veteran broadcaster.
01:06Now Ray Hadley has given evidence detailing that conversation he had with complainant C saying it was true and saying
01:14that complainant C broke down while detailing those allegations against Mr Jones.
01:19Now the case that the defence is trying to put forward the legal team for Alan Jones is that this
01:24has all been brought out because of treachery and rivalry but also money and that's because Ray Hadley had signed
01:30a secret deal in late 2018 to take over Alan Jones as the breakfast host.
01:36That was because he says he was approached by a shareholder at the time John Singleton the prominent Australian businessman
01:42who said he had enough of Alan Jones costing the station millions of dollars in defamation lawsuits.
01:49So he put the suggestion to Ray Hadley that he would take over the breakfast program and it would have
01:54seen his contract double from $2 million to $4 million which Ray Hadley said was a very attractive offer.
02:01So he took it he said that was meant to be a secret deal but eventually Alan Jones became aware
02:06of that deal and he says that is when some of the strongest animosity between the pair started to brew
02:12especially in 2019 around before the time that that conversation happened with complainant C he says that Alan Jones had
02:20animosity with him because he thought he was being disloyal in trying to take the breakfast program.
02:25That was a deal that never eventuated when the nine entertainment took over 2GB and they signed on Alan Jones
02:31for an extra two years but Ray Hadley told the court he gets to keep the doubling of his salary
02:36so he was relatively happy.
02:38The legal team of China argued that he pushed forward these allegations and pushed for the complainant to make these
02:43allegations public to author Peter Fitzsimmons back in 2019 which he didn't.
02:49And he only came forward with his allegations in a Sydney Morning Herald article in December 2023 and he wasn't
02:55named in that article he was referred to under a pseudonym.
02:59Now Ray Hadley denies the suggestion that he pushed that complainant to come forward with his allegations against Mr Jones
03:05and he denied the suggestion from Gabrielle Bashir SC Mr Jones's lawyer that this was all a ploy to try
03:13and get the breakfast program that they say he covered it so much.
03:16So Ethan, where's the trial expected to move next?
03:22Well it's somewhat hit a hurdle here this afternoon.
03:27The trial has essentially come to a close for the day because it's going to be legal arguments that will
03:32be taking place for the rest of the day and that's because they've returned to a central allegation related to
03:38complainant C.
03:39I'll take you back a week ago.
03:42A central piece of this trial is the allegation that this former younger colleague of Alan Jones which touched on
03:49the groin during a lunch with multiple other people in Sydney's lower north shore.
03:54That was back in 2008 that he alleges that took place.
03:58He says Mr Jones left his hand in his groin when they were sitting next to each other for most
04:03of the lunch.
04:03Now we heard from several witnesses who were at that lunch.
04:07Some have denied seeing anything bad take place or any inappropriate behaviour by Mr Jones.
04:12Another says there was inappropriate behaviour but he says he didn't see what was going on underneath the table but
04:18he did hear multiple people making jokes about what was going on between complainant C and Alan Jones.
04:24We've heard another witness has been called to testify about that lunch.
04:28So far he's only been questioned for just a few minutes and denies remembering that specific lunch taking place but
04:36now descended into legal arguments.
04:38So he's been sent home and will return tomorrow to possibly hear more evidence from that witness.
