The new owner of the 2GB and 3AW radio stations, Craig Laundy, has opened the door to veteran shock job Ray Hadley’s return to the airwaves as the pub family scion vowed not to let his personal moderate Liberal politics interfere with his hosts’ on-air commentary.
Laundy, whose family office last week announced a deal to buy the stations from Nine for $56 million, said the former 2GB Mornings host could feature on the network in some form when the deal was finalised in the middle of this year.
Laundy said that the future of Hadley, who is still on Nine’s payroll, had been discussed amid the negotiations about the sale and that the stations’ managers “do have a plan for Ray and what they want him to do in that contract, but again, that’s management’s decision, and I’m not going to interfere with day-to-day [business decisions].”
“Ray is currently under contract to the network as of the takeover date,” Laundy said. “Management will sit down and work out whether it’s extended and what Ray does moving forward.”
Hadley, who was a top-rating presenter for decades, signed a multimillion-dollar contract extension three years ago until the end of 2026. He resigned in 2024 a year later with two years and about $7 million left on that deal. Nine, the owner of this masthead, continued to pay him under that contract.
Hadley has been producing content for cross-town rival The Daily Telegraph since he was replaced on Mornings by Mark Levy, who sources noted on Friday delivers similar ratings at a significantly lower salary.
Hadley, who signalled last week he was open to returning to the airwaves, faced bullying allegations at 2GB from two staffers who settled claims against him.
Hadley has previously apologised for aspects of his conduct. Following the release of an independent report into Nine’s workplace culture in 2024, Hadley said he was an example of workplace behaviour change, citing his past “rather robust” way of dealing with matters.
Though 2GB management will discuss Hadley’s options, Laundy cautioned that he and his family had bought 2GB and the other stations for their current on-air line-ups.
“What I do know is the on-air talent at 2GB is what we’ve based the decision to buy the asset on, because they’re performing really, really well and delivering, and we’ve got no plans to tell management how that layout or structure should be.”
Laundy, who was a moderate Liberal MP from 2013 to 2019, said he would not interfere with the stations’ editorial line and each host would decide how much time to give to political topics such as the rise of Pauline Hanson and One Nation.
“I’m listening and because they’re registering in the polling, they’re registering very highly in the minds of the talkback caller and the presenter of the day. If that’s an issue that they think they want to talk about, that’s what they’re going to do,” Laundy said.
The former federal minister for small and family business said he remained a “proud, card-carrying member of [the Liberal Party]”, but would not stand in the way of presenters interviewing the hard right One Nation party whose immigration-heavy rhetoric has helped it outflank the Liberals in the polls.
“Whatever the hosts deems fit, even if they consider having seen the results of polls that it’s something worth talking about, and customers agree with them and dial with their fingers, absolutely that’s going to be talked about,” Laundy said.
During his time in parliament, Laundy at times lobbied cabinet ministers to increase refugee and asylum seeker intake and was the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group, though he adopted the Liberal Party line on votes in the House of Representatives.
He said it would be “politically silly” for the Liberals in Parliament not to back under-fire leader Sussan Ley after the party’s struggles at last year’s election.
“I really hope they can galvanise behind Sussan,” said Laundy, who was a top lieutenant for Malcolm Turnbull in parliament. “I don’t think she’s been given enough clear oxygen since taking a leadership role, and I just don’t think, given the challenges they had at the last federal election with reaching female voters tactically, a smart way to move forward and fix that problem would be to get rid of party’s first ever female leader.”
Laundy, the son of 84-year-old pub, pokies and hotel baron Arthur Laundy, said his family could not envisage setting a “line” over what is, or isn’t, acceptable content on air.
He said he would act as a conduit between current Nine Radio managing director Tom Malone, who is staying on as the new company’s chief executive and the “informal board” that is made up of senior members of the Laundy Family Office. Sales chief Brian Gallagher will also remain with the company.
Arthur Laundy, who was also involved in the deal, said the deal could also benefit the family’s broader commercial interests without impinging on editorial freedom.
“We love talkback radio,” Laundy said. “We love the platform, the way it works and we think if this is taken out of a listed environment, let’s face it, it’s a small part of a massive machine, and we’re moving it to become the only part of the Laundy family machine in this space.”
“We can apply and encourage entrepreneurial thinking and access to family business ownership, not corporate ownership. We think that it can be a good business long into the future.”
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Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.