Top radio host charged with sexually abusing eight people
· BBC NewsTiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney
Veteran Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has been charged with sexually abusing seven men and a 17-year-old boy.
The 83-year-old was taken into custody at his Sydney apartment early on Monday morning, as detectives from the New South Wales (NSW) Police Child Abuse Squad searched the harbour-front property and seized electronic devices.
Mr Jones is one of Australia’s most influential media figures, and has previously denied allegations of abuse, first published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.
He now faces 24 charges over alleged incidents between 2001 and 2019, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.
All the charges, except two of common assault, are sex offences.
Police said some of the alleged victims knew the radio titan personally, and that at least one had been employed by him.
Others were allegedly assaulted the first time they met him, NSW Police's Michael Fitzgerald told reporters.
"I wish to commend the victims and their bravery in coming forward. [They] have now got the ability to have a voice. This is what they've been asking for," he said.
Commissioner Karen Webb earlier said police had conducted a "very complex", "protracted" and "thorough" investigation, and expected other alleged victims may now come forward.
"There's no such thing as a matter that's too old to be investigated," she said at a press conference.
"You will be listened to, and we will take your matter seriously."
Mr Jones has been granted conditional bail, and will face court on 18 December.
A former teacher, Mr Jones coached Australia's national rugby union team between 1984 and 1988, before pivoting to a radio career.
He also, at times, worked as a speechwriter and advisor for Liberal Party figures - including former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser - and launched several failed bids to represent the party in both state and federal politics.
A staple of Sydney airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, Mr Jones juggled those duties with TV commentary gigs before he retired from full time work in 2020 citing health issues.
The broadcaster is a polarising figure, for years boasting one of the nation's biggest audiences but often courting controversy.
He made headlines in 2012 for suggesting that then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father had "died of shame", and in 2019 faced a massive advertiser boycott after saying someone should "shove a sock" down the throat of New Zealand's leader at the time, Jacinda Ardern.
Mr Jones has also been successfully sued for defamation many times.