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 arrested at his Sydney apartment early on Monday morning, as New South Wales (NSW) Police Child Abuse Squad detectives searched the harbor front property and confiscate electronic devices.
Mr Jones is one of the most influential people in Australia media figures, and has previously denied allegations of abuse, was first published in 2023 by The Sydney Morning Herald.
He now faces 24 charges relating to alleged incidents between 2001 and 2019, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.
All of the charges, except two counts of common assault, were sex crimes.
Police said some of the victims were known to the radio giant and at least one had worked for him.
Others were believed to have been assaulted the first time they met him, NSW Police’s Michael Fitzgerald told reporters.
“I want to commend the victims and their courage in coming forward. [They] now have the ability to have a voice. This is what they asked for,” he said.
Commissioner Karen Webb previously said police had conducted a “very complex”, “lengthy” and “thorough” investigation and it was expected that other alleged victims could now come forward newspaper.
“No matter is too old to investigate,” she said at a news conference.
“You will be heard and we will take your matter seriously.”
Mr Jones has been released on conditional bail and will appear in court on December 18.
A former teacher, Mr Jones coached the Australian national rugby union team from 1984 to 1988, before moving into a broadcasting career.
He also occasionally worked as a speechwriter and advisor to Liberal Party figures – including former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser – and launched several failed attempts to represent the party across the political spectrum. state and federal.
A mainstay of the Sydney airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, Mr Jones juggled those duties with TV commentary gigs before retiring from full-time work in 2020 for personal reasons. health.
The broadcaster is a divisive figure, for years boasting one of the largest audiences in the country 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 he faced a major advertising boycott after saying that 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 multiple times.
