83-year-old retired Australian broadcaster charged with sex offences

Famed Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones was charged Monday with a string of alleged historical sex crimes, police said, after an investigation into the conservative radio shock jock.

The 83-year-old is a household name across Australia and for years held immense sway through his top-rating radio talk show.

In a colourful career, he has also coached the national men’s rugby team, been a speechwriter for an Australian prime minister and taught at one of the country’s most prestigious schools.

Detectives from a dedicated child abuse squad arrested Jones on Monday while executing a search warrant at his luxury Sydney Harbour apartment.

He has been charged with 24 offences against eight alleged victims spanning between 2001 and 2019, New South Wales Police said.

This included 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault against people who had been employed by Jones.

Jones has strenuously denied prior allegations of indecent assault, which surfaced in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper late last year.

“We will allege that the accused knew some of them personally. Some of them professionally,” state crime commander Michael Fitzgerald told reporters.

The youngest victim was 17 years old at the time of the alleged offence, Fitzgerald said.

“I wish to commend the victims and their bravery in coming forward.

“They are fully aware, as are the investigators, that the hard work is just beginning.”

Whether as a sports coach, aspiring politician, or radio heavyweight, Jones has spent decades in the public eye.

He rose to fame while coaching the Australian rugby side in the 1980s, leading the Wallabies to a rare “grand slam” over England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.

His feats as a coach and administrator earned him a place in Australia’s Sports Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1989.

-‘Powerful, divisive’ –

However, Jones’ subsequent career as a radio talkback host cemented his influence in Australian public life.

At the height of his powers, politicians from both sides scrambled to stay friendly with Jones, who was right-leaning and had a hit radio show.

“Over 36 years, Alan Jones became one of the most powerful, divisive, and socially destructive voices the Australian media has ever produced,” academic Denis Muller wrote in 2021.

An Australian tribunal found that in 2005 Jones had incited hatred of Lebanese Australians, fuelling racially charged riots in Sydney.

He retired from his radio show in 2020.

Jones made several unsuccessful tilts throughout his career to win a seat in the Australian Parliament.

AFP