Updated ,first published
Watch the hearing live here from 10.15 AM via the Federal Court.
Kyle Sandilands’ barrister has told the Federal Court that his conduct may not have been pleasant, but that the owners of the KIIS network knew exactly what they were getting and took responsibility for it via a specially customised contract.
Sandilands’ barrister Scott Robertson, SC argued that “if you buy Kyle, you get Kyle” and that ARN profited off his conduct while outlining his client’s arguments during a case management hearing on Friday morning.
“The kind of conduct in which he engaged was conduct that was desired, contractually designed… and indeed was monetised, evidence will demonstrate,” Robertson told the court. He said that applied even where Sandilands’ conduct occurred off-air, but in the broadcast studio where everything was recorded for later use.
Robertson urged Federal Court Justice Angus Stewart to hear Sandilands case as soon as possible in June, arguing that ARN was “throwing the kitchen sink” at the case via one of the largest law firms in the world and could get ready in time.
He added that Sandilands “appears highly likely” to admit to having “engaged in the poor conduct that is alleged”.
As Sandilands sat in the centre of the front row of the courtroom laser focused on the proceedings, his barrister, Robertson said that as a citizen himself “I look at it and say ‘this is not nice conduct, this is not the kind of conduct that I think someone should engage in’.“
But he said that did give ARN a right to tear up Sandilands’ contract, which had a special clause to protect the foul-mouthed radio host.
Sandilands’ team do not want his own case against ARN to be heard at the same time as that of his former co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson – who is also suing the radio network over her scrapped contract – if it means it slows down the whole process.
Shortly after, legal representatives for Henderson said their client does not wish to be forced into being in the same courtroom as Sandilands, arguing the proceedings should be kept largely separate.
Henderson’s barrister Vanja Bulut said the cases being heard together would put her client in the same “enclosed space” as Sandilands, who “she says has caused a significant psychological harm”.
Henderson was not present on Friday, but her manager Gemma O’Neill observed proceedings.
Bulut suggested that the length of the hearing could blow out in length for her client if they were combined with Sandilands’ proceedings. Bulut said they expect to call on two experts for evidence including “evidence of a medical nature as to the impact it’s had on my client’s health and wellbeing”.
Sandilands arrived at the Federal Court of Australia in a black Rolls-Royce an hour earlier, calling his legal dispute with KIIS network owner ARN Media “pretty ugly”.
The former top-rating radio host told a packed media scrum on Friday morning he wanted to sort the dispute out to get back on air and boost ARN’s share price.
Sandilands, ever the showman, pulled up outside the court in the luxury vehicle, bearing the number plate KS20, and was trailed into the building by dozens of reporters, photographers and videographers.
Sandilands said he hadn’t spoken to Henderson since their dramatic on-air separation in February, admitting to reporters that things were “already pretty ugly”. “Put me back on the radio. Let’s get the share price back up,” he said.
The Federal Court in Sydney today is also hosting a clutch of other high-profile cases including the consumer watchdog’s case against Woolworths and a defamation case against actor Rebel Wilson.
ARN tore up Henderson’s contract in early March this year after she allegedly refused to work with Sandilands because of his conduct towards her. Two weeks later, it scrapped his contract as well after he was unable to “remedy” what it said was serious misconduct on his part, stemming from his on and off-air behaviour toward his former co-host of 25 years.
Not long after, both stars sued the company in separate attempts to claw back the majority of the $200 million contracts they had each signed, which began just over 14 months ago.
As ARN filed its defence to the court to both matters on Tuesday this week, this masthead also revealed the company is also suing both former employees and their private companies in a pair of counter claims, citing lost revenue and profits as a result of the show blowing up, largely due to alleged “systemic bullying” on behalf of Sandilands toward Henderson.
Sandilands’ 2004 Series 1 Rolls-Royce Phantom is worth, by some estimates, about $1 million.
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Kishor Napier-Raman is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X or email.
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.From our partners
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