This article contains descriptions of sexual assault.
Former Sydney radio broadcaster Alan Jones has been arrested this morning at his Circular Quay home in relation to charges of indecent assault and sexual touching between 2001 and 2019, as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Jones was charged with 24 offences against eight victims, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault (victim under authority of offender), nine counts of assault with act of indecency, two counts of sexually touching another person without consent and two counts of common assault.
How has this come about? And where to from here?
The arrest
Early in the morning of Monday November 18, 2024, detectives from the NSW Police child abuse squad arrested the 83-year-old Jones and delivered him to the Day Street police station in Sydney’s CBD.
The arrest took place after nine months of investigative work by NSW Police’s Strike Force Bonnefin, run by the State Crime Command’s child abuse squad, and follows the SMH’s Kate McClymont’s reporting, in December 2023, of allegations against Jones by several young men. The accusations, which Jones has previously denied, span multiple decades during which Jones worked in several capacities, including while a radio host at 2GB as well as a school teacher in the 1960s.
Following the SMH’s reporting, Jones’ lawyer Mark O’Brien alleged: “Over many years, certain journalists employed by Nine (formerly Fairfax) newspapers have been resentful of our client’s prominence as a commentator on many political and cultural issues, and the malicious and concocted allegations giving rise to the imputations constitute a concerted attempt to destroy our client’s reputation.”
The allegations
The SMH’s reporting detailed the allegations of five men who claim Jones inappropriately touched them and abused his power in doing so.
Brad Webster (not his real name), who was 20 when he started working for Sydney’s 2GB network, claimed Jones, while they were in a lift together, would “corner him and forcibly kiss him on the lips”, following a car ride where Jones’ “wandering hands … gradually became him grabbing my dick.”
“He knew I wasn’t gay, so it was about power dynamics,” Webster told the SMH.
A second man alleges that in 2001, Jones touched his penis on a car ride to dinner together, after he wrote to Jones for guidance on living as a young gay man. After he removed Jones’ hand, he alleges Jones said to him: “Why aren’t you afraid of me like everyone else?”
A third man alleges he was assaulted by a drunken Jones in 2008 while he worked as a 22-year-old waiter on the NSW south coast, claiming Jones fondled his penis without consent. He said the incident happened in a Kiama restaurant, with Jones allegedly handing him a $20 note on departure.
A fourth man told the Herald that in 2008, Jones allegedly invited him to his apartment and made him feel “scared shitless”.
“He just grabs you and kisses you all over,” he said.
In 2017, former technology businessman Alex Hartman alleged to a number of media figures, including at the Herald and the ABC, that Jones had indecently assaulted him as a young man. Jones denies the allegations, and Hartman died in 2019.
What happens next?
A statement released by Jones’ lawyers in December 2023 concerning the SMH’s reporting said they had instructions to “immediately serve a concerns notice under Section 12A of the Defamation Act as the first step in the commencement of defamation proceedings”. Jones is yet to do so.
Jones was granted conditional bail and is scheduled to appear in court on December 18.
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
For counselling, advice and support for men in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania who have anger, relationship or parenting issues, call the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491. Men in WA can contact the Men’s Domestic Violence Helpline on 1800 000 599.
