From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. It's Tuesday, November nineteen. Shishinping is facing his biggest trade challenge in more than a decade, and he's aiming to counter Donald Trump's taraf by getting Australia on side. In his third bilateral meeting with Anthony Albnezi at the g twenty somewhat on Tuesday, the Chinese president will seek support for open trade. That story's live right now at The
Australian dot Com Dot you. One of the most influential figures in the history of Australian media, Alan Jones, will face court on December eighteen, charged with twenty four offenses including indecent assault and sexual touching. His lawyer says he'll be defending the chargers today. The remarkable power of the loved and loathed Alan Jones and what happens to the eighty three year old Now, long before there was Kyle and Jackie.
Oh guys, guys, this morning I'm masturbated right and I'm so lazy.
This morning there was Alan Jones.
She's a clown, Cinderada in a complete clown. I just wonder whether Scott Morrison's going to be fully brief to shove a sock down the throat.
I mean, she is a joke.
This woman an absolute and utter lightweight.
What about this brain dead Sarah Hansoon Young from the Greens. You're a dope, cleaverm or you died in the world.
Dope.
The all powerful king of Sydney Breakfast Radio who turned his daily AM slot into a platform to terrify politicians, hector hapless bureaucrats and demand results for his army of devoted listeners. Here he is in twenty fourteen, demanding then Minister Malcolm Turnbull show loyalty to Prime Tony Abbott.
Can I begin by asking you if you could say after me this As a senior member of the Abbot government, I want to say here, I am totally supportive of the Abbot Hockey strategy for budget repair Allan.
I'm not going to take dictation from you. I am a cabinet minister. I support unreservedly and wholeheartedly every element in the budget, every single one.
Jones's power came from his audience, Sydney Siders who loved hearing him rip in, but were also charmed by his moments of quirky, warmth enthusing about passions like opera.
The music critic, writing for The New York That described Terrasini's performance as quote smoldering, explosive, shrinking, whispering, singing.
Jones had risen international prominence via rugby union. He was a teacher, then a coach at elite boys schools who rose to steer the Wallabies back in their glory days. Jones and made numerous unsuccessful attempts to stand for politics with the Liberal and Country parties, but in the end, Jones proved he didn't need a seat in Parliament to have a say in running the country. Politicians jumped to
his command, and sponsors flocked to the show. It was those commercial relationships that caused Jones's first brush with national controversy, when an inquiry by the Australian Broadcasting Authority found he had failed to properly disclose commercial relationships with the brands he was sprooking on air. And then in twenty twelve at a young Liberal function, the Sunday Telegraph recorded Jones saying this when he thought no journalists were present.
The cause of the.
Labor Party julized the life everybody.
If you didn't catch that, Joones said, the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard's recently deceased father had died of shame because of what Joanes said were his daughter's lies. It prompted a wave of condemnation and a rare expression of regret.
Jones's apology press conference went for forty five minutes, but the word sorry didn't feature.
I owe her an apology, and I hope I'll be able to make that.
To her, not to her through you.
You just have to concede and man up and say you got it wrong.
I was the deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph at the time we published that story, and I've got to tell you it was hair raising for editor Neil Breen and me to publish such a story about a figure so powerful and so ruthless. But that moment was a small insight into how Jones regarded women. He is lecturing Gillard, the Prime Minister, for being late to his show.
Alan, I believe I am a very courteous person. I'm also very busy. If I can finish my sentence, Alan, also, I'm also very busy, Rawson and Alan, if I can finish my sentence uninterrupted. I've had media commitments this morning.
Late this morning at ten past seven, would your staff agreed on this program?
Well, Allan, I am happy to apologize to you for being late.
I am now here.
If you have a question in the nation's interest, then please feel free to put it.
And suggesting what he'd really like to do with Gillard and the then Greens leader.
The woman's offer tree and quite frankly, they should show her and Bob Brown in a chaff back and take them as far out to see as they can until her to swim home.
At the top of this episode, you heard Jones talking about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda R.
Dern.
Here's another moment.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Dern challenging Scott Morrison over climate change. Now, I hope Scott Morrison gets tough here with a few backhands. Hasn't got a clue this woman.
There's no question that there has been a lot of misogyny in the kinds of things that Jones has said over the years.
Stephen Rice is The Australian's New South Wales editor and.
I think when he made that comment about Dern, Itt coalesced. There were a lot of things happening at the time as well. It wasn't just that this was a reminder of those things that he'd said, the quite disgraceful things sometimes about women. It was also right at the point where listeners were already starting to abandon the show, but more importantly, advertisers were starting to abandon the show, and not just abandon the show, abandoned two GB as a station,
as a radio station. So you had all this background where his influence is fading because he's a dinosaur and he's not reading the room. Other broadcasters are moving with the times. Jones just doesn't seem to be able to do that. He's really stuck on certain lines. And maybe you could get away with that and your audience would
just dwindle a bit, but you'd hang around. But when you're saying stuff like chuff bag and chuck them in the sea, advertisers will abandon you, and that's what they were doing.
Jones retired from radio in twenty twenty and tried television with Sky News, but the audience didn't follow him, and Jones left in twenty twenty one. In twenty twenty three, nine newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald published a series of allegations by men that Jones had indecently assaulted them, including claims he'd put his hands down two young men's pants, passionately kissed a then schoolboy without his consent, and sexually touched an employee who was driving him to work from
his apartment at Sydney's Circular Key. Jones denied all the allegations. On Monday morning, police raided that Circular Key apartment and took Jones away.
Alan Jones, once one of the most influential media identities in Australia, is now under arrest over allegations he and decently assaulted multiple young men.
Police executed a warrant at the eighty three year old's luxury Sydney apartment at Circular Key this morning. He has been charged with twenty four offenses spanning two decades, including eleven charges of aggravated in decent assault, nine charges relating to assault with active indecency, two charges of sexual touching, and two charges of common assault. The police will allege Jones's youngest victim was seventeen years old when me alleged
offense occurred. His Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald from New South Wales Police, giving a media conference on Monday.
I wish to commend the investigators of Strikeforce Bonavan for their tenacity and their hard work and bringing this matter before the courts. Historical matters such as this are incredibly hard to investigate and bring before the courts. I wish to commend the victims and their bravery in coming forward. They fully are aware, as are the investigators, that the hard work is just beginning, and they have given their statements fully aware that they will go before the courts.
Jones has not yet been required to enter a plea, but he's consistently denied any wrongdoing. On Monday, his lawyer Chris Murphy said the charges would be defended and attacked Michael Fitzgerald for describing the witnesses as victims, saying that was a matter for the courts coming up after the Break Southwales editor Stephen Rice on what we can expect from the King versus Alan Jones when this matter goes to trial. Stephen Rice spoke to the Front's Christen Amiot Rice. He says Jones is.
Probably the best broadcast of the country. He's ever seen. I love him or hate him. He is just a force of nature and yes he's bombastic. H'll harangue prime minister's businessman, you name it. Alan Jones will be in there, taking absolutely no prisoners. A lot of our younger listeners may have difficulty just grasping the kind of power that he wielded, especially today in the age of social media
in a very fragmented media. But in the eighty and nineties and early two thousands, radio was the way to reach the hearts and minds of people in Sydney. It had that immediacy that social media does now. Before Alan Jones came along, it was a cheerful kind of round that early morning radio shift, and Jones just turned that around and made it into a really serious, I will break your that kind of style of radio. And he took politicians to task and people responded to that.
Alan Jones has of course denied any wrongdoing and we will need to wait to see for this to play out in court. But if and when this does come to trial, what do you think we can expect to see?
From everything we know Jones will plead not guilty. He's said very clearly on a number of occasions since The Sydney Morning Herald came out with its allegations that he is not guilty, that those allegations are false.
You mentioned just now that Alan Jones is likely to plead not guilty. He's vehemently denied these allegations in the past. Who do you think we can expect to see representing him if and when this does go to trial.
Look, I expect we'll see a phalanx of Australia's best cases lining up to represent Jones. Behind the scenes, He's still got plenty of friends, plenty of supporters. Alan Jones famously has a what he calls a pick and stick club. They are the rusted on friends and supporters who he will never abandon and who he thinks and hopes will never abandon him. He'll have plenty of friends working to ensure that he gets a fair trial.
Alan Jones has been granted conditional bail to appear before the Downing Center Local Court on DECENTI eighteen. Stephen Rice is The Australian's Sydney bureau chief. We've got the full inside story of how this arrest transpired and what precipitated the drama live right now at the Australian dot com dot au