Broadcaster Chris Smith returns a subtle blow to 2GB’s Ray Hadley over Coral Princess dispute

2GB broadcaster Chris Smith has fired back amid a dispute with fellow host Ray Hadley about the Coral Princess Covid outbreak, calling the situation “disgraceful alarmism”.

Acting radio host Chris Smith has taken a subtle stab at Ray Hadley over their Coral Princess dispute, labelling the ordeal as “disgraceful alarmism”.

On 2GB this morning, Smith hit back at criticism over comments he made on-air on Wednesday that attempted to downplay the severity of the cruise ship’s Covid outbreak and “keep things in perspective”.

He appeared to serve a veiled blow to colleague Ray Hadley whose criticism sparked a dispute between the pair.

“The hysteria around the Coral Princess was utterly disgraceful,” Smith said.

“In fact, I would use the word embarrassing, and it was peddled by people who are clueless about the pandemic. Some people don’t want to admit that for their own alarmist agenda.”

Chris Smith’s comments about the Covid outbreak on Coral Princess cruise were criticised.

Smith condemned media coverage of the Coral Princess as it docked in Sydney as “madness”.

“If we’re going to act like this every time a cruise ship comes in, we’ll never get out of a crisis,” he said.

Ray Hadley did not agree with Chris Smith’s comments. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“It’s disgraceful alarmism. We will continue to call out people who are hellbent on damaging this country’s reputation.”

In the following show, Hadley denied being an “alarmist” and said his concerns were based on fact.

“It’s not being alarmist, it’s being factual. The cases from yesterday are up by 3600,” he retorted.

“We have a problem and it is a problem we need to deal with. People must listen to medical advice, not someone else’s advice.

Chris Smith hit back at the criticism and labelled it “disgraceful alarmism”. Picture: Monique Harmer

“We’re not panicking, we’re not alarmist. We’re simply telling you that cases are going up.”

Hadley also refuted Smith’s claim made on Wednesday that all passengers on board the ship had to be fully vaccinated.

On Wednesday, Smith, who is filling in for Ben Fordham, told listeners to “put (the outbreak) in perspective”.

He said the spread of Covid was “always going” to happen on cruises and that NSW had improved since the outbreak of sister ship Ruby Princess in 2020.

Chris Smith is not backing down from his comments about Coral Princess.

Later on Wednesday morning, Hadley delivered a seething attack on Smith and labelled his comments about the issue as “foolish”.

“One of my colleagues this morning was saying nothing to see here — it’s all wonderful,” he said.

“I’m sorry — but the sort of nonsense I heard on the network this morning is just foolish.

“I’m almost embarrassed I’m on the same broadcast network as that bloke.

“But anyway, that’s another story I’ll deal with privately.”

In response to Hadley’s criticism, Chris Smith told The Daily Telegraph: “I stand by what I said”.

“The cruise company has let those passengers down with sloppy biosecurity measures, but with 4.7 per cent of those on board becoming infected and 100% of them fully vaccination, this is nothing like the Ruby Princess case.

“As the QLD Health Minister said ‘Covid is all around us’. I’ll take advice from the epidemiologists thanks.”