Alan Jones AO (b. 13 April 1943) is an Australian commercial radio personality, in the genre sometimes known as a shock jock; he has had a parallel career as a Rugby Union and Rugby League coach and administrator (both, see section - Controversy). Before this, he was a teacher and later speech writer for various politicians including the Prime Minister.
Jones was born and raised on a dairy farm near Oakey in south-east Queensland and attended primary school school in the area before high school at Toowoomba Grammar School as a boarder.
Early career: teaching and politics
After leaving school, he trained as a teacher at the Kelvin Grove Teachers College ([1] now part of the Queensland University of Technology) in Brisbane. After this training, in 1961 he taught first at a state primary school, then in 1963 won a position at the Brisbane Grammar School for boys. He was studying part-time at the University of Queensland for a Bachelor of Arts degree, which he was awarded in 1967.
In 1970, Jones was appointed Senior English Master at The King's School at Parramatta in Sydney, where he coached the Rugby side to victory in 1974.
A parent at Kings who owned the New South Wales based airline, Skyways , offered Jones the opportunity to branch into management, and he left Kings in 1975. Later that year, another parent at Kings, Doug Anthony, leader of the Country Party (now the National Party of Australia) in the Australian Parliament, offered Jones a position with the party in Canberra, the Federal capital city. The next year, he sought party preselection as the candidate for the parliamentary seat of Eden-Monaro based on the hinterland adjoining Canberra, but he was unsuccessful at the election.
Jones studied further in 1977 at Oxford University, completing his education with majors in English and French Language and Literature, Politics and Education. He excelled in tennis and also won a University Blue here.
Returning to Australia, he was the candidate for the 1978 by-election for the NSW state seat of Earlwood for the Liberal Party of Australia, formerly held by deposed Liberal leader Sir Eric Willis. The formerly safe seat was lost, and Jones' antics at a Greek cultural event were called into question. Jones then worked for several years as a speech writer for NSW Opposition leader John Mason, meanwhile standing for preselection for the Federal seat of North Sydney.
In 1979, Jones again moved to Canberra where he was a speech writer for the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Fraser, until early 1981. He then moved back to Sydney to be Executive Director of the Employers’ Federation of NSW, which he held until 1985.
Rugby (Union and League)
1982 was the beginning of Jones' association with semi-professional Rugby, firstly appointed as (part-time) manager of the NSW Rugby Union team. The next year he served as First Grade coach for the Manly Rugby Union team, which won the Premiership for the first time in 32 years.
In February 1984, Alan Jones replaced Bob Dwyer as coach of the Australian Rugby Union national team, and he was to coach the Australian team for 4 years victories in 102 matches including 23 victories in 30 Tests and four of those losses were by only a point. He is the most successful Australian Rugby coach ever. The side included Mark Ella until his retirement, but quickly added Nick Farr-Jones and two Manly players Peter FitzSimons and James Black. Also in 1984, Australia's national team, the Wallabies, won the Grand Slam: victories over England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and a side made up of the best players of those countries and France.
The 1985 Bledisloe Cup victory in New Zealand was the first time that had been achieved in 39 years. Jones was awarded the Rostrum Speakers' Award as the Communicator of the Year, and named the 1985 Confederation of Australian Sport as Australia's Coach of the Year. However, Jones also pulled out of the Liberal preselection for the Federal Division of Wentworth in Sydney.
In 1988, Jones was made a Member of the General Division of the Order of Australia for services to Rugby Union Football.
1989 saw Jones elected to the Confederation of Australian Sports ' Hall of Fame in recognition of his contribution to Australian Sport as the Australian Rugby coach.
In 1990, he was appointed coach of the Tigers, the Balmain Rugby League team, without accepting a fee. He resigned in July 1993 with these results: 1991 - 8 wins, 12th place; 1992 - 10 wins, 10th place; 1993 - 5 wins, 12th place. The next month he was appointed Director of Football for the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League team, also without a fee.
Radio and the media
1985 saw Jones join Sydney radio station 2UE as the morning show host after John Laws left for 2GB. He moved to the 5.30am to 9.00am Breakfast slot in February 1988, and achieved the largest breakfast audience and also the largest radio audience in Australia.
In 1990-1993 and 1995-1997 Jones was awarded, by the radio industry, the title Australian Radio Talk Personality of the Year.
In 2002, Jones joined 2GB as breakfast announcer, reportedly also taking a financial interest in the station. Jones appears daily making editorial comment on the Channel 9 Today Show.
In 2004, Jones received a Queen's Birthday Honour - an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) partly for his service to the media and sports' administration, but also helping many charities, including Youth off the Streets, the Children's Hospital, Starlight Foundation, the Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation and the Heart Research Institute.
Controversies
In December 1988, Jones was arrested in a lavatory block in London West End. He was initially charged with two counts of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner under the Westminster by-laws. Jones pleaded not guilty and was granted unconditional bail. The charges were eventually dropped and costs were awarded to Jones.
For a time until 1990, Jones had been writing for The Sun-Herald but it announced that Jones’ column would no longer appear following a petition by staff calling for his removal as a contributor.
Later that year, Jones in his role with 2UE was ordered by a court to pay more than $55,000 damages for defaming David Parker, a former councillor of the NRMA, the NSW Motorists’ organisation; 2UE was also ordered to pay $80,000. Parker claimed he was defamed during the NRMA election campaign in October 1986.
July 1991 had Jones commenting during a conspiracy to murder trial, of Tom Domican and two others; about the key crown witness, a self-confessed heroin smuggler, Jones said, “Why is he the witness and not the defendant”. Contempt is not proved; what Jones did is said to be "dangerous".
1992 brought several events:
- Jones is rebuked by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption for making attacks on Dr Terry Metherell during evidence in an inquiry relating to Metherell’s appointment to a government job.
- Media Watch shows how on-air comments made by Jones about the Rio summit and the Green movement align with those made by B.A. Santamaria in The Australian. Santamaria later says Jones had contacted his office for permission to quote from the article.
- Jones and 2UE are found guilty of contempt of court after the criminal trial of ex-policeman John Killen was aborted following an interview with a former Drug Enforcement Squad officer.
1993 was another year of controversy:
- In January, Jones described the choice of Mandawuy Yunupingu (an Australian Aborigine) as Australian of the Year as an "insult" and said he’d got the award simply because he was black.
- In February, Jones is awarded a 1992 Advance Australia Award for his services to the community.
- In March, Jones and 2UE were sued by the NSW Department of Public Prosecutions for contempt of court and fined $77,000, of which Jones’ share was $2,000, after Jones caused the trial of a policeman to be aborted: The policeman was facing a charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice on the same day as Jones conducted an interview with the Police Association and dealt with allegations that police had suffered at the hands of false accusations.
- In June, leading Australian Aborigine Charles Perkins and Jones clash in a live TV and radio debate. Jones says Australian’s are "getting no say when you (aboriginal people) say this is your nation; it's not, it's Australia’s nation"... "They (average Australians) are being asked to pay taxes to fund people who are seeking title to productive land to which they’ve made no contribution to its productivity". Perkins called Jones racist and a redneck and comments "You’ve sat on your white bum at 2UE in Sydney all your life so you wouldn’t know what goes on out there".
1994 also had its moments:
- In April, after only 13 weeks and 64 episodes, the Channel Ten program ‘‘Alan Jones Live’’ is pulled due to low audiences and criticism.
- In July, ‘‘Media Watch’’ highlights Jones’ on-air promotion of Optus.
- In November:
- The managing director of a Manly hotel sued Jones and 2UE claiming a broadcast falsely suggested he was a heroin trafficker, allowed the hotel to be used for heroin trafficking, and that he was party to conspiracies to frame someone for murder.
- Separately, Don Mackay, president of the NRMA sued Jones and 2UE alleging Jones made a number of false imputations against him.
- Further, Jones had a public spat with his fellow 2UE broadcaster John Laws. In an interview with Laws, then Prime Minister Paul Keating said of Jones "You know, he’s got a good-rating program, even though it’s basically, you know, most of the stuff is middle-of-the-road facism". Keating had refused Jones requests to appear on his program all year.
Between 2002 and early 2004, the "cash for comment" investigation was conducted. Jones had been accused of contracting to have personal commercial support in exchange for favourable "unscripted" comments, principally for Telstra and QANTAS, during his radio show. The independent Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV show, Media Watch, was heavily involved in exposing these practices. The Australian Broadcasting Authority finally decided that disclosure had to be made, hence the "Commercial Agreement Register" at the Jones portion of his station's web site. (Jones was investigated along with John Laws from 2UE.)
Also in April 2004, a stream of flattering letters to Jones from Professor David Flint, Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, came to light. This called into question the impartiality of Flint, and the then Federal Minister for Communications , Daryl Williams, was embroiled in media speculation as to the future of Flint.
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