An Australian broadcaster has been arrested over allegations of sexual harassment

Veteran Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has been jailed following an investigation into a series of sexual abuse allegations.

New South Wales (NSW) Police said detectives from the Child Abuse Squad arrested an 83-year-old man at an apartment in Sydney’s Circular Quay early on Monday, before searching the premises.

In March, a strike force was established to investigate multiple incidents of human abuse and sexual assault between 2001 and 2019, they said in a statement.

Mr Jones is one of the most influential people in Australia media figures, and has denied allegations of abuse, which were first published by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said police had been working “tirelessly” in the “extremely difficult”, “long-term” and “thorough investigation”.

He added that the police expect that other suspected victims may come forward, as often happens in such cases.

“There is no issue that cannot be investigated.

There is no better time to speak out than now and you will be heard, we will take your case to the top,” he said.

A former teacher, Mr Jones coached Australia’s national rugby union team between 1984 and 1988, before moving into broadcasting.

He also, at one time, worked as a speechwriter and political consultant for the Liberal Party – including former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser – and launched several failed bids to represent the party in both state and federal politics.

A mainstay of Sydney’s airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, Mr Jones combined those jobs with TV commentary gigs before retiring from full-time work in 2020 citing health issues.

This broadcaster is a divisive figure, boasting one of the nation’s largest audiences for many years but often causing controversy.

He made headlines in 2012 for suggesting that the father of then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard “died of shame”, and in 2019 he faced a major advertiser boycott after someone “threw a sock” down the throat of then-New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern.

Mr Jones has also been successfully sued for defamation on a number of occasions.

Police are expected to brief the media on their investigation later on Monday.