Alan Jones did not have any scientific or expert evidence to back up claims about the collapse of a quarry wall causing deaths during the 2011 Queensland floods, a court has heard.
During his third day of being questioned in Brisbane supreme court, where he is defending a $4.8m lawsuit, the talkback host stood by the assertion.
“I had plenty of eye-witness evidence,” he said. “I was a voice for the voiceless.”
The Toowoomba-based Wagner brothers John, Denis, Neill and Joe are suing Jones, Harbour Radio, 4BC and writer Nick Cater over 32 broadcasts relating to the 2011 Queensland floods between 2014 and 2015.
They allege they were blamed for the deaths of 12 people in the town of Grantham during the 2011 floods, when one of the walls of the Lockyer Valley quarry they owned collapsed.
Under cross-examination from the Wagners’ barrister, Tom Blackburn, Jones was questioned about what had led him to form the view that the collapse of the quarry wall caused the deaths.
“You had no, first of all, hydrological evidence, at all?” he asked.
“No, I did not,” Jones replied.
Blackburn said: “You had no scientific evidence, expert evidence, of any kind?”
Jones replied: “No, just the evidence of people’s eyes. Witnesses.”
On Friday Jones denied he hated the Wagners, was careless with the truth and wilfully blind to information that did not suit his narrative.
Following three days of often tense questioning from the Wagner’s lawyer, Jones finished giving evidence on Monday afternoon.
Cater was called to the witness box next. He is due to continue giving evidence on Tuesday.