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19-11-2024
SYDNEY: Veteran Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has been arrested after an investigation into a series of sexual abuse allegations.
New South Wales Police said detectives from the Child Abuse Squad took an 83-year-old man into custody at an apartment in Sydney’s Circular Quay early on Monday morning, before searching the property.
A strike force was set up in March to investigate several indecent assaults and sexual touching incidents between 2001 and 2019, they said in a statement.
Jones is one of Australia’s most prominent media figures, and has previously denied allegations of abuse, first published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.
A former teacher, Jones coached Australia’s national rugby union team between 1984 and 1988, before pivoting to a radio career.
He was a staple of Sydney airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, also hosting a commentary show on Sky News Australia before he retired from full time work in 2020 citing health issues.
Police are expected to update the media later Monday.
Wearing a green jacket and holding what appeared to be a walking stick, Jones said nothing and looked straight ahead as he and three officers in the car drove past reporters into the station.
The arrest came after months of investigation by NSW police, which began in March to investigate a number of alleged indecent assaults and sexual touching incidents between 2001 and 2019.
Police on Monday morning said no charges had been laid.
The NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, told reporters on Monday police were anticipating more people may come forward and said the arrest was the result of “long, thorough, protracted investigation”.
“I did visit the strike force some weeks and months ago,” she said. “It is very complex and protracted and I know that those officers have been working tirelessly.”
The state premier, Chris Minns, declined to comment on what he described as a “major investigation”.
“We need to let police conduct this inquiry free of commentary from me and others,” he said.
Jones hosted breakfast radio in Sydney on 2GB for nearly 20 years. For much of that time he was one of the nation’s most influential media personalities.
His radio career was marked by controversies, including comments that the Prime Minister Julia Gillard had lied and that her late father had “died of shame” as a result. In 2019 he also made comments about the New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, saying someone should “shove a sock” down her throat.
Jones’s career also spanned teaching, politics and sport. After leaving school he trained as a teacher, and worked across different schools in Queensland and NSW for much of the 1960s and 70s.
Before his radio career Jones tried to enter politics. He launched several failed attempts at preselection for federal parliament and unsuccessfully ran for the NSW parliament.
Jones served as a speechwriter for Malcolm Fraser, the Liberal prime minister, until 1981.
In 1984 Jones became the coach of the Wallabies, the Australian men’s rugby union team. During his time at the helm the team enjoyed significant success. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
