Hadley describes warm, hostile and complicated relationship with Alan Jones

Ray Hadley described his relationship with fellow broadcaster Alan Jones as a mixture of professional gratitude, personal hostility and decades of rivalry as he faced court questioning for a third consecutive day.

Hadley told the Sydney court that Jones targeted him because he had secretly signed a $4 million contract to take over Jones’s prominent breakfast radio slot. “He was targeting me because he thought I was disloyal,” Hadley said.

The changeover never took place. The chairman of Nine, which owns 2GB, pushed for Jones to return, leaving Hadley in the mornings position with twice his previous salary. Hadley said Jones then told colleagues to find damaging material about him and connected him to a false assault accusation.

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He was targeting me because he thought I was disloyal

Hadley also acknowledged sending friendly messages to Jones later. He described those replies as basic courtesy and said he owed part of his professional success to Jones, a former teacher who won the breakfast slot 226 times over several decades. At the same time, Hadley said the pair had engaged in “stand-up brawls” during their years working together.

Jones, 85, has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges linked to alleged incidents involving six men from 2003 to 2020. One former radio staffer alleges that Jones kissed and groped him without consent over five months. The staffer later confided in Hadley, who texted him that “This bloke (Jones) needs to be destroyed”. Jones’s barrister, Gabrielle Bashir SC, argued that professional rivalry and fabricated allegations shaped the case, suggesting Hadley wanted to destroy his rival and encouraged the staffer to complain. Hadley rejected the suggestion that he had lied about the conversation.

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This bloke (Jones) needs to be destroyed