Informal street surveys in Rockhampton and Brisbane found younger people vaguely know him as a radio man and older men remember his football career

Alan Jones is covering the election and he's being sued by the premier, but do Queenslanders know who he is?

Alan Jones has placed himself firmly in the Queensland election, doing a special broadcast on local radio but also becoming the story himself after the premier and deputy premier filed legal action against him.



But how influential is the Sydney media personality in the sunshine state?

Informal street surveys in Rockhampton and Brisbane found most people knew who he was, younger people vaguely recalling him as a radio man and older men remembering his football career.

Jones is broadcasting during Queensland’s election campaign on Fairfax-owned radio 4BC, which last year held 6.2% of Brisbane’s morning audience, compared with the Brisbane ABC station’s 12.4%.

Campbell Newman sues Alan Jones for defamation over Acland mine comment Read more

Queensland University of Technology media communication lecturer and media audience expert Dr Jason Sternberg said Jones’s influence would stretch to Queensland – but only within his demographic.

“Alan Jones is a national broadcaster and has a national profile. His demographic at least also remember his other lives as an Australian rugby union coach and his involvement in the Rabbitohs, so he is a national personality for the demographic that listens to talkback radio … largely an older demographic,” he said.

“I think he does have a certain amount of influence with the demographic but I also think state politics is state politics and it’s probably a case where people are looking at someone from New South Wales commenting about what’s going on in Queensland … [they] might scratch their head a little bit.”

Sternberg called the decision to have Jones broadcast throughout the election campaign “strange”.

“The interesting thing about talkback radio is the audience is ageing and literally dying. The question … is how is it going to bring a new generation of listeners through,” he said. “The Alan Joneses of the world are probably not the best way to do it.”

“I think talkback radio has some issues it needs to address in the coming years, especially how it’s going to pull in more people.”

Jones has claimed Newman visited his home in 2012 and promised the New Acland mine would not be expanded.

Newman has referred to Jones as a “bloke from Sydney” when asked about the claim by journalists, and on Thursday filed defamation action against Jones in the supreme court.

Politicians will not comment on the influence they perceive Jones to have in Queensland but the opposition leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has been keen to distance herself from Jones.

“I wouldn’t call him an ally,” she told reporters earlier in the week. “He’s actually had a go at both sides of politics. What he was saying today is essentially that you can’t trust Campbell Newman and that’s what people are telling me across the state.”

Asked if Newman’s defamation action only elevated the story, Sternberg said the premier was within his legal rights.

“Campbell Newman and Jeff Seeney are entitled to take legal action if they think their reputation has been duly damaged by what Jones has said,” he said. “Given Queensland’s political history, I think the idea of politicians wanting to cover their bases and have those things knocked on the head is entirely understandable.

“I wouldn’t say Campbell Newman is overprotective there, I think he’s doing whatever it is he thinks he needs to do.”

Jones himself has declared himself no friend to either party.

“It’s laughable isn’t it?” he said on being described as the best friend of the left.

“If you go back a few years, I was a mad, rightwing no-hoper who’s an unconditional Liberal party supporter. I’m not anti-development, I know all about coal. My father worked in the coalmine at Acland, the coalmine was underground and the prime agricultural land was never disturbed. But in the modern world, of course, that’s too dear and the coal companies want everything above ground.

“I don’t really care who is supporting what I’m saying – whether it’s Greens – but this has got to stop. You cannot go on saying all things begin and end with mining.”