Broadcaster Alan Jones and Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham launched a "virulent attack" on former NSW Nationals leader Andrew Stoner that attached a whiff of corruption to his name, a court has heard.
The one-time deputy NSW premier, who did not contest the March 28 election, is pursuing a defamation suit against the two men over a 14-minute interview aired in 2014 in which they criticised his decisions in relation to controversial coal projects.
Mr Stoner's lawyers argue that comments made by Mr Jones and Mr Buckingham inextricably linked his name to allegations of corruption and falsely suggested that he "did the bidding" of businessman Nathan Tinkler in return for political donations.
Among the defamatory imputations claimed by Mr Stoner's legal team was the suggestion "that the plaintiff, in his role as an elected representative, had sold out the farmers he was supposed to represent".
But barrister Matthew Richardson, who is representing Mr Jones and Mr Buckingham, argued "sold out" is too vague a term to be put to a jury.
"It's in my respectful submission a plainly ambiguous term," he said.
At one point in the broadcast Mr Stoner was referred to as "a gun for hire at the highest echelons of our government".
Top silk Terence Tobin QC said the word "corruption" had been peppered through the interview - as had Mr Stoner's name.
"This broadcast your honour is an extraordinarily virulent attack on the (former) deputy premier," he told the NSW Supreme Court.
"Like sand in sugar, it is impossible to attempt to separate out, the way my learned friend has, the language of abuse from the language of corruption from the language of contempt, all expressed and aimed at the plaintiff ...
"In the ephemeral, the transitory nature of a radio broadcast, the listener is going to take away certain impressions."
Justice Lucy McCallum will give her decision on Friday morning.
