Veteran Australian broadcaster Alan Jones has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting 10 young men over nearly two decades.
The 83-year-old faces 34 charges related to alleged incidents between 2001 and 2019, including 11 charges of indecent assault.
Mr Jones is one of Australia's most influential media figures and is a former coach of the national rugby union team. He has previously denied allegations of abuse, first reported by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.
After his court appearance, he spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest last month, saying: “I never assaulted these people.”
“I want you to understand this: These allegations are all either baseless or distort the truth, and you should know that before my arrest the police did not give me any opportunity to respond to any of these allegations.”
Mr Jones was detained at his Sydney apartment on November 18 while investigators from the NSW Police Child Abuse Squad searched the harbourfront property and seized electronic devices.
Police originally charged eight people – including a 17-year-old boy – and have since brought additional charges, and say investigations are continuing.
All but two of the charges, common assault, are sex crimes.
Police said some of the alleged victims knew the radio and television presenter personally, and that at least one of them worked for him.
Michael Fitzgerald of New South Wales Police told reporters last month that others had been assaulted when they first met him.
“The law assumes I'm not guilty, and I'm not guilty,” Jones told waiting media after his first court appearance in Sydney on Wednesday.
“That is all I can say at the moment, but I assure you that I will defend each charge before the jury in due course.”
Mr Jones, a former teacher, coached the Wallabies between 1984 and 1988, before turning to a career in radio.
He also worked at times as a speechwriter and advisor to Liberal Party figures – including former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser – and launched several unsuccessful attempts to represent the party in both state and federal politics.
Mr Jones was a fixture on Sydney's airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, juggling those duties with TV commentary gigs before retiring from full-time work in 2020 due to health issues.
The broadcaster is a polarizing figure, boasting for years of having one of the country's biggest audiences but often courting controversy.
He made headlines in 2012 for suggesting that then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father “died of shame”, and in 2019 faced a massive advertiser boycott after he said someone should “put a sock” down New Zealand's then-leader's throat. Jacinda Ardern.
