Alan Jones Losing Friends, Allies, and Accolades

Less than 48 hours after Alan Jones was charged with 26 sexual offences against nine victims, one of whom was only 17 at the time of the alleged offending, friends and supporters are scrambling to distance themselves from him.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has completely deleted any scrap of Jones from her company websites, Hancock Prospecting and S. Kidman and Co. While Google is providing links to the pages when searched, users are delivered to the website’s home page rather than the actual article. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that this started on Tuesday, with an error message displaying only on the pages relating to Jones. The 83 year old called Rinehart “a beautiful lady” and deemed her “probably the greatest living Australian” in a speech at the launch of her outback-themed cookbook in 2019.

Rinehart’s current employee, and former vice president of the federal Liberal Party, Teena McQueen, had her reaction to Jones’ arrest leaked from the an encrypted WhatsApp group called “Restoring Your Liberal Party”, deeming the charges “absolute bullshit.” She then went on to defend him further, saying “it’s disgraceful what they’re doing to him. And I will pass on any defamatory comments, he’s been through enough.” However, she’s currently floating around Trump’s place at Mar-A-Lago and apparently living it up, so her ability to judge a persons’ character well may be in doubt.

Other similarly villainous Australians, including ex-Prime Minister John Howard, and billionaire James Packer, both gave carefully worded statements to the press when asked about Jones, though both of them naming him as a “friend.” Howard said he had no knowledge of the matters Jones was charged with and declined any further comment. Packer made sure to also mention in his statement that Jones was entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Status in Halls of Fame in Doubt

Jones’ position in the Australian Media Hall of Fame is also up in the air, with organisers reviewing his status after any criminal trials.

“We’ll be adding information to Alan Jones’ Media Hall of Fame entry outlining the serious allegations against him,” a spokesperson said. “We’ll allow the legal process to be completed before taking any further steps.”

The accused is also a member of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, to which he was inducted into in 1989. Organisers have said their policy for a member facing charges is to hold a special general meeting and write the member a letter, with a response expected in a certain timeframe. The board of directors would then decide where to from there.

Inductees have been expelled from the Hall of Fame in the past, with former AFL player Barry Cable booted after a he was found guilty of child sexual abuse when he was a player in the 1960’s.