Alan Jones Fires Bribery Claim At Qantas CEO As Defamation Trial Rolls On

Alan Jones Fires Bribery Claim At Qantas CEO As Defamation Trial Rolls On
B&T Magazine
By B&T Magazine



Radio host Alan Jones has accused Qantas CEO Alan Joyce of taking a bribe from the family who are suing the veteran broadcaster for defamation.

Taking to the witness stand at the Supreme Court in Brisbane for the second straight day, Jones alleged in an email to Joyce (pictured above) that he accepted a bribe from the Wagner family to fly planes into one of their airports, according to The Guardian.

A preceding email from Jones to Joyce also questioned Qantas’ move to fly planes into Wellcamp airport “after all the discussions we’ve had?”.

In court, Jones questioned whether Qantas would have flown into Wellcamp “if they had to meet orthodox commercial requirements?”.

“It’s a major inducement,” he said.

Brothers Denis, John, Neill and Joe Wagner are suing Jones to the tune of $4.8 million for suggesting they were responsible for the deaths of 12 people during the 2011 Grantham floods due to a wall of a quarry they owned collapsing during the natural disaster.

Jones made the accusations across 32 different broadcasts on stations 2GB and 4BC, as well as once on Sky News, during 2014 and 2015.

Harbour Radio (which employs Jones), 4BC and journalist Nicholas Cater are also facing a lawsuit.

The Wagner family tried to add 35 other broadcasts by Jones as evidence for their defamation case, but they were rejected by the judge because Jones had not been given the opportunity to review them and prepare his defence.

Jones conceded on day one of his appearance on the witness stand that his on-air comments about a Queensland family were “savage”, but has rubbished their claim he suggested they were murderers.

Meanwhile, Joe Wagner told the court of the barrage of verbal and physical abuse his family has suffered as a result of the radio host’s accusations.

The family has also received support from motorbike racing legend Mick Doohan, who gave evidence last week in court.




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