Veteran Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has been charged with sexually abusing eight men over two decades.
The 83-year-old was taken into custody at an apartment in Sydney’s Circular Quay early on Monday morning, as detectives from the New South Wales (NSW) Police Child Abuse Squad searched the property.
Mr Jones faces 24 charges for offences allegedly committed between 2001 and 2019, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.
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 has been granted conditional bail, and will face court on 18 December.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said officers had been working “tirelessly” on what has been a “very complex”, “protracted” and “thorough” investigation.
She added that police expect other alleged victims may come forward, as often happens in cases like this.
“There’s no such thing as a matter that’s too old to be investigated,” she said at a press conference.
“There is no better time to come forward than now and you will be listened to, and we will take your matter seriously.”
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.