Former Wallaby coach turned broadcaster, Alan Jones has been arrested in Australia this week on 26 counts of sexual abuse and assault. Nine separate people have reportedly accused the 83-year-old of abuse, including eight men and one boy aged 17.
He now faces 26 charges between 2001 and 2019, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault, 11 counts of assault with an act of indecency, two counts of sexually touching another person without consent and two counts of common assault. The New South Wales (NSW) Police Child Abuse Squad searched Jones’ Sydney harbour-front apartment in the wake of the arrest and seized various items and electronic devices.
Speaking to the press, New South Wales Police’s Michael Fitzgerald commended those who had come forward, saying: “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.”
Commissioner Karen Webb noted that other alleged victims are expected to come forward, describing the investigation as “very complex” and “protracted.”
“There’s no such thing as a matter that’s too old to be investigated, you will be listened to, and we will take your matter seriously.”
Mr Jones’s lawyer has since criticised that comment, labelling it “contemptible“.
“I think it’s totally contemptible of the assistant commissioner of police to be praising the witnesses who he might like to call victims,” he said.
“This is a matter for a courtroom and I believe he is in terrible breach of that.”
Mr Murphy concluded: “He denies any misconduct. This matter will be defended.”
Formerly a coach of the New South Wales rugby team, Jones went on to replace Bob Dwyer as the Australian national rugby coach in 1984 where he achieved great success, winning 86 out of 102 matches over a four-year period. Jones achieved many accolades during his prestigious career, including the Member of the Order of Australia for his service to Rugby Union football and being inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1989.
As recently as 2007, Jones had put his hat in the ring to once again coach the Wallabies, stating at the time: “If Peter Lewis and the Queensland Rugby Union – who have played a major role in Australian rugby for many years – are of the view I am the person who can make that contribution then I am obligated to put my hand up and say, ‘Well if that is the case, I’m available’.”
Although he wasn’t taken up on the offer, he did accept the invitation to coach the Barbarians against the Classic Wallabies in Lismore and the Wallabies in Sydney in 2017. Following his management career, Jones became an outspoken media personality, involving himself in television, radio and print.
Jones had first publicly denied the allegations of abuse when they were published in The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023, but this was by far and away not the first time the influential media figure had faced scrutiny in the public eye.
Just five years ago in 2019, Jones had claimed that someone should “shove a sock” down the throat of then-New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern, leading to a blanket advertiser boycott. His controversial stances had also previously made headlines back in 2012 when he stated that then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s father had “died of shame”, leading to a nationwide backlash.
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