SYDNEY — Veteran Australian broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones has been arrested after an investigation into a series of sexual abuse allegations.

New South Wales (NSW) Police said detectives from the Child Abuse Squad took an 83-year-old man into custody at an apartment in Sydney's Circular Quay early on Monday morning, before searching the property.

A strike force was set up in March to investigate several indecent assaults and sexual touching incidents between 2001 and 2019, they said in a statement.

Jones is one of Australia’s most influential media figures, and has previously denied allegations of abuse, first published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said officers had been working "tirelessly" on what has been a "very complex", "protracted" and "thorough" investigation.

She added that police expect other alleged victims may come forward, as often happens in cases like this.

"There's no such thing as a matter that's too old to be investigated.

"There is no better time to come forward than now and you will be listened to, and we will take your matter seriously," she said.

A former teacher, Jones coached Australia's national rugby union team between 1984 and 1988, before pivoting to a radio career.

He also, at times, worked as a speechwriter and advisor for Liberal Party figures— including former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser— and launched several failed bids to represent the party in both state and federal politics.

A staple of Sydney airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, Jones juggled those duties with TV commentary gigs before he retired from full time work in 2020 citing health issues.

The broadcaster is a polarising figure, for years boasting one of the nation's biggest audiences but often courting controversy.

He made headlines in 2012 for suggesting that then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father had "died of shame", and in 2019 faced a massive advertiser boycott after saying someone should "shove a sock" down the throat of New Zealand's leader at the time, Jacinda Ardern.

Jones has also been successfully sued for defamation many times.

Police are expected to update the media on their investigation later on Monday. — BBC