The national conversation will be “different and poorer” after Alan Jones has announced his retirement from radio, after 35 years on the air.
At least that’s what former Tony Abbott thinks, tweeting about the announcement earlier this morning.
We’re not convinced.
After all, this is the same Alan Jones who declared in 2012 that women were “destroying the joint”. He said Julia Gillard’s father had “died of shame”, labelled Sarah Hanson-Young as “brain dead”, suggested Gillard again should be shoved in a “chaff bag” and then just last year told Scott Morrison to “shove a sock down [the] throat” of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
He’s long been one of the country’s strongest and loudest climate change deniers. He’s labelled climate change a hoax, and declared the “real pollution we should fear” is the one he believes is poisoning the minds of young people.
A different national conversation is certainly overdue.
Jones has decided to listen to the experts on this one, telling listeners this morning that he is stepping back from his work commitments for the sake of his health.
“We are living in the world of coronavirus,” he said. “The most repeated statement we hear is ‘we must listen to the experts’. Well, the experts are telling me in no uncertain terms, and not for the first time I might add, ‘continuing with the present workload is seriously detrimental to your health’.
He said he’ll be retiring from radio at the end of the month.
The announcements comes after the program had been reviewed by Macquarie Media, following a mass exodus of advertisers in response to the Ardern comments last year. He was given a “final warning” at the time.
Nine has announced that current drivetime host Ben Fordham will be replacing Jones, who has described it as a “huge responsibility to be taking over from Alan”.