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A senior NSW Police officer has had his reputation damaged by broadcasts on radio station 2GB that claimed he treated four junior officers like offal and should resign, according to court documents.

Superintendent Bruce Grassick, the commander of Oxley Police District which encompasses the Tamworth region, sued 2GB and presenter Ray Hadley in the Federal Court over two broadcasts in February and May 2023.

Ray Hadley, pictured in 2022, is being sued in the Federal Court.

He has accused Hadley of having a “malicious bias” against senior police due to the treatment of his son, former police officer Daniel Hadley.

The younger Hadley resigned from the force in 2018 after being charged with cocaine possession. The charge was later dismissed on mental health grounds.

In the monologues Ray Hadley is being sued over, he suggested that four police officers from the Bathurst area had been charged with misconduct and later acquitted, resulting in one 30-year veteran quitting the police and another seeking psychiatric care.

On February 27, Hadley said the officer “pushing” the prosecution was Grassick, who was then in charge of that region but had since been “parachuted up the food chain” to Tamworth.

Superintendent Bruce Grassick, pictured in 2021.Credit: Nine News

“Bruce, come back to Sydney – Bruce Grassick – from Tamworth,” Hadley said. “We need to have a little chat to you about these four officers.”

On May 8, Hadley said the officers had been put through “hell” and were subjected to “a campaign of terror by police prosecutors against their own men and women”.

“How do you elevate a bloke who’s the architect of the charges against these poor people to being a superintendent in Tamworth?” Hadley said. “God help Tamworth.”

Hadley said three times that Grassick should resign, and questioned why he had been promoted.

“No wonder you’re struggling to get coppers on the street if you treat people with long service like offal, and that’s what you’ve done with these coppers,” he said. “Hang your head in shame, you, superintendent for what you’ve done to these men and women.”

In a statement of claim, Grassick’s lawyers argue he was defamed by the suggestion he treated the four officers abysmally, conducted a campaign of terror against them, behaved disgustingly and outrageously, should have been sacked, and should hang his head in shame.

It is argued Grassick’s reputation was “catastrophically and irreparably injured” by publication of the claims to tens of thousands of people, including on social media.

The document says the “natural and probable consequence” of the broadcasts was injury to Grassick’s professional reputation, including his working relationships and community relationships in rural and regional areas.

He was also required to answer to his superiors regarding the “false and defamatory allegations”, the document says.

Grassick is seeking damages in the case, including aggravated damages, plus interest and costs. He is represented by lawyer Benjamin Aulich and barrister Stuart Littlemore KC, who formerly presented the ABC’s Media Watch.

It is argued that Grassick is entitled to aggravated damages because of Hadley’s “malicious bias against the leadership of the NSW police force by reason of its dealings with his son”.

The defamation case was mentioned in court for the first time this week, and is expected to return to court in November.

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