Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the Front. I'm Christinamio.
Speaker 1: It's Monday, August three, twenty six. Post World War II
Speaker 1: migration to Australia was a resounding success and one nation's
Speaker 1: push for a so called monoculture is pointless. That's according
Speaker 1: to former Prime Minister John Howard, who's long advocated for
Speaker 1: a conservative approach to Australian multiculturalism. More than a third
Speaker 1: of people purchasing properties through the government's expanded First Home
Speaker 1: by Guarantee scheme would have been ineligible for the five
Speaker 1: percent deposit scheme in the past. Experts say the lack
Speaker 1: of means testing is sending the housing market haywire for
Speaker 1: buyers and renters. Those stories alive right now at the
Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au. He was once the most
Speaker 1: powerful man in Australian broadcasting. Now, Alan Jones will defend
Speaker 1: himself in court against accusations of indecent assault and sexual
Speaker 1: touching dating back decades, allegations he strenuously denies. Today, The
Speaker 1: Australian's editorial director and regular host of The Front, Claire
Speaker 1: Harvey and media diarist Steve Jackson discussed the trial two
Speaker 1: years in the making. Plus they'll delve into the millions
Speaker 1: of dollars left on the table by newly independent broadcaster
Speaker 1: Kyle sandlans Claire and Jacko are here in just a moment,
Speaker 1: Alan Jones, once the king of talkback radio. Today walking
Speaker 1: out of a police station. Veteran broadcaster Alan Jones has
Speaker 1: been arrested.
Speaker 2: Allan Jones's world is in pieces tonight.
Speaker 1: Detectives today raiding Jones's Harveside apartment.
Speaker 3: Former broadcaster Alan Jones has been charged with indecent assault
Speaker 3: and sexual touching offenses spanning two decades.
Speaker 4: Steve Jackson edits The Australian's Media Diary and I've brought
Speaker 4: him in because it's Monday and I always talk to
Speaker 4: Jacko on a Monday if I can, but also because
Speaker 4: one of the biggest stories in media is finally about
Speaker 4: to hit.
Speaker 2: The courts today.
Speaker 4: It's the trial of former broadcaster Alan Jones in the
Speaker 4: local court in Sydney, Jacko. This is going to be
Speaker 4: a massive trial. Really too big for a local court,
Speaker 4: isn't it.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: I don't think we've seen a case that has this
Speaker 3: much interest and intrigue around it, potentially since Ben Robert
Speaker 3: Smith and his defamation case. But in terms of someone
Speaker 3: in the media taking the stand to defend themselves, it's
Speaker 3: sort of unprecedented at this level. It's been two years
Speaker 3: in the making and we're finally getting to court today. Obviously,
Speaker 3: mister Jones, he's had the opportunity to try to push
Speaker 3: it back last week. His legal team said no, he
Speaker 3: wants to go to court, so he's home, got raided,
Speaker 3: he got arrested back in November twenty twenty four, two
Speaker 3: years on. He said no, enough's enough. I want to
Speaker 3: go out there and try to fight to clean my name.
Speaker 3: So he will start doing that from today.
Speaker 4: He's got some heavyweight legal representation. Gabrielle Basher sc one
Speaker 4: of the best. Yes, and of course you would get
Speaker 4: a silk if you were Alan Jones and you were
Speaker 4: appearing in court on any kind of matter. The Crowns
Speaker 4: charge Alan Jones with twenty two counts.
Speaker 3: What are they There's twenty of indecent assault and there's
Speaker 3: two of sexual touching and now these charges they over
Speaker 3: a long period of time. We're talking from two thousand
Speaker 3: and three through to twenty twenty in various locations. There's
Speaker 3: six alleged victims who are going to be called to
Speaker 3: give evidence about their interactions with Alan Jones. So it's
Speaker 3: going to take weeks to play out. Obviously, he's expected
Speaker 3: to take the stand in his defense and say, look,
Speaker 3: I did nothing wrong. It's one of those ones that
Speaker 3: look thank God for the judicial system, because there's multiple
Speaker 3: sides to every story. Obviously from his point of view
Speaker 3: is his interactions with these people was always either consensual
Speaker 3: or nonexistent in some cases potentially we'll find out in
Speaker 3: the days ahead, but he has always said from the outset,
Speaker 3: I've done nothing wrong. I'm going to fight to clear
Speaker 3: my name.
Speaker 1: I am certainly not guilty, and I'll be presenting my
Speaker 1: account to a jury.
Speaker 3: As you heard the wing, he's done that the whole
Speaker 3: way along. He's and as you say, he's got a
Speaker 3: very experienced legal team, one of the best in the
Speaker 3: country coming up to defend him. Even though it's in
Speaker 3: the local court and even though it's judge alone. So
Speaker 3: what we're going to see with that, obviously clear is
Speaker 3: because it's a judge alone, a few more used the
Speaker 3: term liberties, but a little bit more freedom taken with
Speaker 3: the way the matter is covered, because there's no fear
Speaker 3: that a jury could be swayed by the media's coverage,
Speaker 3: so all the ugly twists and turns, expect to see
Speaker 3: them coming out on a daily basis.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's an interesting part of the way trials unfold
Speaker 4: when they're in the public domain, isn't it. When there's
Speaker 4: a jury, the media are of course extremely careful and
Speaker 4: nothing is reported that's not.
Speaker 2: Been put before the jury in court while.
Speaker 4: The jury are actually present in the room, and that
Speaker 4: leaves out quite a lot of stuff that leads you
Speaker 4: to the stories after the trial where you.
Speaker 2: Can report what the jury didn't hear.
Speaker 4: Indeed, legal argument that happens when the jury is sent
Speaker 4: out of the room, and often.
Speaker 2: They are the great stories.
Speaker 4: When it's a judge alone, there's the assumption that a
Speaker 4: judge could not possibly be influenced by anything he or
Speaker 4: she reads or sees in the media.
Speaker 3: And I think that's right, because the differentiation is they
Speaker 3: understand it the technical points of law. You know, it's
Speaker 3: so technical that yeah, like reading the tawdry accounts in
Speaker 3: some of the tabloid press will not sway them. I
Speaker 3: do think that is right.
Speaker 4: They can't be influenced, and that then gives editors and
Speaker 4: journalists a little bit more liberty, as you say, in
Speaker 4: the way they cover it. So there will be comment pieces,
Speaker 4: there'll be color, there'll be analysis going on from journalists
Speaker 4: that will be an intriguing part of this matter.
Speaker 3: Well, I think also no matter what happens from here,
Speaker 3: and some of the more serious charges have been dropped already,
Speaker 3: and what I've been told from the prosecutor's side, they
Speaker 3: haven't told me, but what I've been told from that
Speaker 3: side is they've wanted to reduce the riskier charges and
Speaker 3: prine it back to the ones that are they're the
Speaker 3: safest because they're really going for a conviction, so they
Speaker 3: want to remove anything that they think even has an
Speaker 3: element of doubt. So they've brought it back to the
Speaker 3: easiest charges to prove Alan Jones' team obviously confident they
Speaker 3: can well they don't have to disprove them, but they're
Speaker 3: confident they can show that he's not guilty of those offenses.
Speaker 3: But even with the more serious charges reduced, what we're
Speaker 3: going to see is Alan Jones is going to be embarrassed.
Speaker 3: No matter what happens from here. We're going to hear
Speaker 3: about his interactions with these men. The fact that he
Speaker 3: hasn't taken a plea deal is quite interesting because we
Speaker 3: know that for him it will be embarrassing. These allegations
Speaker 3: will be aired with all the tawdry details that come
Speaker 3: with them, and so no matter what happens from here,
Speaker 3: it is going to have an influence on how people
Speaker 3: see him.
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean his stances obviously are innocent and it's
Speaker 4: up to the Crown to see if I can prove otherwise.
Speaker 4: He is a very wealthy man. He made a huge
Speaker 4: amount of money during his career as a broadcaster, and
Speaker 4: he was already relatively successful before that. He was the
Speaker 4: coach of the Wallabies.
Speaker 3: We've been given today something really special.
Speaker 2: It's an opportunity, an opportunity to become a headline or
Speaker 2: a footnote in the history of rugby.
Speaker 4: Alan Jones has only been off the radio for a
Speaker 4: few years, but it's sort of interesting to remember how
Speaker 4: influential he was. He was incredibly wealthy, wasn't he, jack Well.
Speaker 3: One of the highest paid broadcasters in the history of
Speaker 3: Australian media, and for a long period of time he
Speaker 3: was so influential. He was such a dominant force in
Speaker 3: the ratings that he commanded a really high salary and
Speaker 3: you know, personal sponsorships, et cetera. As this court battle
Speaker 3: plays out on Monday, I hear that there is a
Speaker 3: second potential front that's about to open up for him.
Speaker 3: So all this exposure focus on Alan Jones has had
Speaker 3: the ATO, I hear from my sources in there having
Speaker 3: a look at him again and going over their books.
Speaker 3: Now there's no suggestion of any wrongdoing, but he's in
Speaker 3: the limelight. The ATO is going, hey, let's just have
Speaker 3: a second look at it. I think he will find
Speaker 3: at some point in the coming weeks he is going
Speaker 3: to have a second battlefront open up, and the ATO
Speaker 3: is going to start asking him questions as well. So again,
Speaker 3: no suggestion of any wrongdoing. It's just one of those
Speaker 3: things that when people are in the limelight, everyone starts
Speaker 3: scratching and oh, let's have a look as well. So
Speaker 3: from what I'm hearing, ATO just going over his books
Speaker 3: and his last few tax returns to see if everything's
Speaker 3: ridgie did it probably is? Probably, But it's just one
Speaker 3: of those things with the stress of a cookcase light
Speaker 3: this where you know that these allegations are going to
Speaker 3: be aired about you, and look, you know anyone accused
Speaker 3: of these matters. That is super stressful. He's now going
Speaker 3: to have to worry about also his personal finances being
Speaker 3: potentially questioned.
Speaker 4: It's August now, which means there's only a few sleeps.
Speaker 4: The countdown is on to Kyle Sandaland's life.
Speaker 3: I thought you were going to talk about Christmas, so
Speaker 3: start doing the shopping already.
Speaker 4: Yet the radio show that's not really going to be
Speaker 4: a radio show. It's going to be on Kyle's app
Speaker 4: every morning from August ten. I'm such a super fan
Speaker 4: that I've already been watching Pull Sandalans Live, the documentary
Speaker 4: he's made and released on his app.
Speaker 1: I think it's finally time to let everyone know what
Speaker 1: actually really happened.
Speaker 4: And while I've had the app on my phone, JACKO,
Speaker 4: I've noticed that there's a kind of a chat function,
Speaker 4: so I get these alerts often late at night from
Speaker 4: people like Gronk saying something about Kyle.
Speaker 2: It's quite odd.
Speaker 4: I feel like I've stepped into Kyle's world. Are you
Speaker 4: looking forward to the show?
Speaker 3: Look? I like Kyle. I always have. In my twenties,
Speaker 3: I listened to Kyle and Jackie O. That was the
Speaker 3: station I listened to. I loved the banter.
Speaker 4: Really the formative years of s.
Speaker 2: Jackson.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, look, you know, and that's where all my
Speaker 3: bad puns and toilet humor come from. But I've probably
Speaker 3: graduated into nowadays. I listened to Ben Fordham a little
Speaker 3: bit more often.
Speaker 4: Because you're very sophisticated, urbane gentleman.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and I feel like I've grown out of
Speaker 3: it a little bit.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: It's one of those things. As you start paying more taxes,
Speaker 3: you're really interested in how that money's being spent, whether
Speaker 3: or not it's being spent on inappropriate jokes about Gina Reinhart,
Speaker 3: for example. And I'm finding myself getting more outraged by that,
Speaker 3: and so I've sort of not as much of a
Speaker 3: listener now. He is without a doubt of talent. The
Speaker 3: thing that amazes me is the launch of Kyle Sandland's
Speaker 3: show could not be any starker from Karl Stefanovic. So
Speaker 3: carls of this, you know, sort of bumbling around knocking
Speaker 3: into things production, whereas Kylie's got like team mugs and
Speaker 3: team shirts and team photos, and he's got a platform
Speaker 3: that you've got to subscribe to. Somehow He's commenced the
Speaker 3: editorial director of The Australian to part with one hundred
Speaker 3: dollars to watch his content. So he's got a really
Speaker 3: great strategy. He also has a big payout from arn
Speaker 3: behind him to help fund this massive, like really professional setup.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately for Kyle, I also know that he could have
Speaker 3: had even more funds to set this up, because as
Speaker 3: people will read in the Diary today, he left a
Speaker 3: whole heap of money on the table.
Speaker 4: He said in his behind the scenes documentary, and he
Speaker 4: also said this in an interview with Lisa Mayo in
Speaker 4: The Daily Telegraph a weekend ago, that he decided not
Speaker 4: to fight too hard because he didn't want to go
Speaker 4: through the grief basically of putting his family through the
Speaker 4: uncertainty of a drawn out legal battle. That is something
Speaker 4: that Jackie I was persisting with. She's certainly having a
Speaker 4: drawn out legal battle. But Kyle kind of made a
Speaker 4: virtue of not having got all the money. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think he's done the sensible thing right, Like he
Speaker 3: wants to be back on air. He doesn't want to
Speaker 3: spend two years fighting his former employer in court and
Speaker 3: them saying he's a nasty man who picked on his
Speaker 3: co host doesn't want that, doesn't need it. He wants
Speaker 3: to get on. He's clearly, as I say, to convince
Speaker 3: so many people to subscribe already. He's a very smart,
Speaker 3: sophisticated operator, he said, in those stories you're talking about,
Speaker 3: we accentuate elements of our personality. What you hear on
Speaker 3: the radio is Kyle up to eleven out of ten,
Speaker 3: you know. So he's done a very sensible thing and
Speaker 3: take a small one out. What I have heard from
Speaker 3: my sources within ARN is that they had budgeted thirty
Speaker 3: five million dollars for a payout. That's how much they
Speaker 3: were prepared to pay him. He has I.
Speaker 4: Don't think they have thirty five million dollars just quietly
Speaker 4: down the.
Speaker 3: Back of the couch. They're going to pass the hat around.
Speaker 3: Can everyone chip in? But that's what they were budgeting,
Speaker 3: and I think from Kyle's legal team they hoping for
Speaker 3: at least forty He's negotiated behind all the legal legals
Speaker 3: backs his own deal with Aaran's former CEO Kiaran Davis
Speaker 3: for twelve million and some contra advertising. And for him
Speaker 3: it's weird. He's left potentially twenty million dollars on the table,
Speaker 3: but he wants a plan moving forward. It's interesting, like,
Speaker 3: if that had consumed his life for two years, what
Speaker 3: do you think, given he wants to cure in the media,
Speaker 3: is that the right call.
Speaker 4: He would have spent five million on legal fees during
Speaker 4: that time, and if he'd lost, he would have ended
Speaker 4: up having to pay Arn's legal costs as well.
Speaker 2: This is the Prince Harry nightmare.
Speaker 4: Yeah, where you end up in a really potentially awful situation.
Speaker 2: Kyle talks a lot.
Speaker 4: About having been a homeless kid, and I think that
Speaker 4: has shaped him, that scarcity and fear of not having
Speaker 4: an income. I mean, he's also of the generation like
Speaker 4: you and I who entered the workforce when we had
Speaker 4: ten percent unemployment, when there was a recession that we
Speaker 4: had to have.
Speaker 3: And so these are the good old days boy talking about.
Speaker 4: But it has created I think a mentality in this
Speaker 4: generation of young gen x's or elder millennials, whatever you
Speaker 4: want to call us, that we want jobs. We want
Speaker 4: to be employed, and an ongoing source of income, even
Speaker 4: if you are actually the employer, which he is, is
Speaker 4: better than a lump of cash in the hand because
Speaker 4: that can get fritted away really quickly.
Speaker 3: And also I think had he gone to court, the
Speaker 3: damage to his reputation would have probably meant there's a
Speaker 3: chance that he may never have recovered from that, because,
Speaker 3: as we're talking about with Alan Jones, no matter what
Speaker 3: the outcome is, some of that you know, what seeks
Speaker 3: the tars sticks or what is.
Speaker 4: It like a tar baby is something that you touch
Speaker 4: that you just can't let go of, you know.
Speaker 2: It's one of the rare rabbit stories, all right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4: And also you become a nobody very quickly in media.
Speaker 4: The stress of being the employer. That's something I admire
Speaker 4: in Kyle. He has spoken about feeling the responsibility to
Speaker 4: employ all the people who had been hunted by arn
Speaker 4: because he really was responsible and employed them all straight away.
Speaker 4: That also gave a sense of urgency. He had a
Speaker 4: wages bill.
Speaker 2: To meet every week. He couldn't let that cootcase drag on.
Speaker 3: It's one of the interesting things about Kyle, and I
Speaker 3: think a lot of people think, you know, buff head, buffoonery,
Speaker 3: toilet humor, talking about very explicit content some of the times,
Speaker 3: but he is such a mature guy and the level
Speaker 3: of responsibility he's taken so from that team folty. You
Speaker 3: can see he's employed like more than half a dozen
Speaker 3: people because he feels this and people people who know
Speaker 3: Kyle always say, you know, he has a team view,
Speaker 3: even though he's Kyle. It's us versus them, it's us,
Speaker 3: it's the team project. And the fact that he hasn't
Speaker 3: just gone all right, I've lost my job and I've
Speaker 3: lost my income. All right, you guys were all out
Speaker 3: for ourselves. Now he has made a deal. Probably part
Speaker 3: of his reasoning to get this twelve million rather than
Speaker 3: fight for an extra twenty over two years, is he's
Speaker 3: not just going all right, I've got my twelve million.
Speaker 3: I'm going to use that on my mortgage and make
Speaker 3: sure I'm set. He's used that to employ a whole
Speaker 3: host of people that he feels a loyalty to. It
Speaker 3: is very rare in media to see someone who takes
Speaker 3: that responsibility seriously, and I think it speaks volumes to
Speaker 3: his character to an extent that I don't think a
Speaker 3: lot of people were aware of just how loyal this
Speaker 3: guy is and how when you're in the trenches with Kyle,
Speaker 3: he's got your back, right, He's got your back, and
Speaker 3: he's got your bank account.
Speaker 4: Well, I'll be expecting you to continue paying my wage
Speaker 4: if we ever get.
Speaker 3: Punted, Jack all right, we'll find out next week. Thanks Jack,
Speaker 3: all right, thank you.
Speaker 1: Steve Jackson is The Australian's Media Diary editor and Claire
Speaker 1: Harvey is editorial director and the regular host of the Front.
Speaker 1: For all the latest from around the media, visit the
Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au