Jones takes stand
ALAN Jones yesterday fought back tears as he talked about the people who died in floods at Grantham in 2011.
The radio broadcaster entered the witness box in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday to give evidence in a judge-only defamation trial.
SAVAGE, yes, but not vicious.
That’s how Alan Jones described broadcasts which have landed him in court for an unprecedented defamation trial.
Defending claims he defamed members of Toowoomba’s Wagner family, Mr Jones appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday.
He said the death of a young girl was among tragedies motivating him to take up the cause of 2011 Grantham flood victims.
Four Wagner brothers are suing Mr Jones and others for as much as $4.8 million.
The brothers allege the broadcasts wrongly suggest they were to blame for 12 deaths or the flood when a quarry wall or levee breached or collapsed.
But Mr Jones told the court he stood up for “voiceless” people – and the Wagners tried to “buy silence” by not contesting criticisms on his radio show and then suing.
He said the tragic death of one-year-old girl Jessica Keep in the inland tsunami was a reason he kept raising questions about the flood.
Under cross-examination, Mr Jones admitted his criticisms of the Wagners were savage, but not “vicious”.
He said the Wagners “inflamed” locals after the flood by repeatedly claiming the quarry “bund” was a natural formation.
The Wagners’ barrister said the brothers never made such claims.
Mr Jones equated challenges at Grantham with New Acland mine controversies and other local people’s battles across regional Australia.
“Often things which appear regional are matters which have a very significant national interest,” he said.
Mr Jones said local man Marty Warburton called him after the 2011 deluge.
“He was of the view this wasn’t a flood [but] a consequence of there being a bund which had built up around the quarry.”
The broadcaster said other eyewitnesses backed up that story.
Mr Jones said what locals found “most hurtful” was that they’d “lost the right” to be believed.
Mr Jones’s criticisms of the Wagners’ construction of the airport at Wellcamp were also discussed.
Mr Jones said Tony Abbott told him a private company would be forbidden from accessing “sacrosanct” Oakey airspace, which helicopter pilots used to train for anti-terrorism operations.
The trial continues.