Broadcaster Alan Jones charged with 24 offences over indecent assault allegations

This article contains references to sexual assault.

NSW Police detectives have charged veteran broadcaster Alan Jones following an investigation into alleged indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades.

Jones was charged on Monday with a total of 24 offences against eight alleged victims, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.

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He also faces nine counts of assault with act of indecency, two counts of sexually touching a person without consent and another two counts of common assault.

The youngest of the complainants was 17 years old when the alleged assault took place, police said.

Jones was taken to Day Street Police Station, where he was granted conditional bail. He will appear before Downing Centre Local Court on 18 December.

“Mr Jones will be defending this case, he’s presumed innocent,” lawyer Christopher Murphy told reporters.

In a statement, NSW Police said State Crime Command’s Child Abuse Squad established Strike Force Bonnefin in March this year to investigate a number of alleged indecent assaults and sexual touching incidents between 2001 and 2019.

Following extensive inquiries, strike force detectives executed a search warrant at a unit in Sydney’s Circular Quay, where they arrested the 83-year-old at about 7.45am.

NSW Police Force assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said the investigation would continue.

“We believe that we will have more people coming forward with information, so Strike Force Bonnefin will continue, and they are currently talking to people and will continue to talk to people.”

NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb said the task force would be ongoing and suggested more people might come forward.

“There’s no such thing as a matter that’s too old to be investigated […] So what I’d say to victims is that there is no better time to come forward than now, and you will be listened to, and we will take your matter seriously,” she said at a press conference.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, who also spoke at the press conference, declined to comment on the matter.

“I can understand the interest in the topic, but it’s just not appropriate for me to comment on it,” he said.

Who is Alan Jones?

Jones’ broadcasting career began in the mid-1980s when he became the morning news presenter for radio 2UE in 1985.

He is best known for his Sky News program and his long-running breakfast radio show on Sydney’s 2GB, where he worked for nearly 20 years after leaving 2UE.

Before entering broadcasting, he was a speechwriter for former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser, an English teacher at Sydney’s elite The King’s School, and coached Australia’s national rugby union team, the Wallabies.