Ray Hadley cross-examination begins; former 2GB broadcaster’s ‘secret contract’ for Jones’ breakfast radio slot revealed

Warning: Graphic content

Hello and thank you for reading our live coverage of Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney. I will be bringing you the latest developments today with my colleagues Clare Sibthorpe and Harriet Alexander.

Former 2GB heavyweight Ray Hadley, a long-time colleague of Jones, started giving evidence in the trial on Tuesday. He returns to the witness box today.

Jones, 85, is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent spanning six complainants and a 17-year period from 2003 to 2020. He denies the allegations.

Hadley’s evidence relates to a conversation he had with one of the complainants, a man known as “C”, in 2019. Here are the key parts of his testimony so far.

• Hadley said complainant “C” told him in 2019 that Jones had “put his hand on my c— and kissed me” on a number of occasions some years earlier.
• “I asked him if he was homosexual, and whether he was consenting to it,” Hadley said. “He broke down and cried and said, ‘no, I hated it. I’m not homosexual’.”
• Hadley said he comforted “C” during the conversation and told him it was not his fault. He offered to take the complainant to the police, he said, but “C” had insisted he did not want to do this because Jones was “too powerful”.
• Hadley told the court that author and journalist Peter FitzSimons, a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald, had been investigating allegations against Jones and that he facilitated a phone call between “C” and FitzSimons in 2019.
• At this stage the complainant’s identity was kept secret from FitzSimons and the allegations were not reported, the court has heard.
• In 2023 the Herald’s chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont spoke to “C”, the court heard, and his allegations were published in an anonymised form. Hadley agreed he discussed the article on air.

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.