Alan Jones says he is raring to get back with new Sky News show

Veteran broadcaster Alan Jones will cover major issues affecting Australians on his new Sky News show, including the attack on Western values.

Veteran broadcaster Alan Jones is starting his new evening show on Sky News. Picture: John Feder

Alan Jones is raring to go on his new nightly Sky News show, vowing to shine a spotlight on the major issues affecting Australians, including the repeated “attack on Western values”.

A little over a month after leaving his No 1 breakfast radio show at 2GB, Jones says he plans to “cover as much ground” as he can on topics affecting both young and old Australians on his new live show, called Alan Jones, which kicks off on Monday night.

“I’ve always said that energy and water are two big issues, but there’s one bigger issue than all of that which I will be addressing on the opening night of the program. And that is the very, very consistent, persistent, almost violent and damaging attack on Western values and Western civilisation,” Jones tells The Australian.

“The attempt to make people feel ashamed of their history, ashamed of their past and ashamed of themselves.”

And now there is growing criticism of China, which in turn is “allegedly warning its students not to come to Australia to Australian universities because we are a racist nation”, Jones says.

“So the irony of that is that the very, very institutions that are going to be damaged by all of this economically are the very institutions that have propagandised in the classroom to young people the fact that we are exactly what China says we are — that we are racist and that we were invaded and Captain Cook was not a reputable person.”

Jones’ comments follow protests and demands for statues of Captain Cook to be removed in the wake of racial injustice protests, which started in the US following the death of George Floyd while in police custody. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rejected any link to Captain Cook and slavery, arguing that the Black Lives Matter movement has been taken over by the left wing.

Jones says politicians are meek on the subject, calling for new laws to be introduced which ensure that anyone who desecrates monuments goes to jail.

Jones believes too often other important issues such as the mobile black spots and water shortage around the country aren’t being covered by radio and television programs, which often take their cue from the newspapers.

“There can be a tendency in radio and television to take your stories off the front page of the paper, and as a young person who works for me said: ‘my father doesn’t listen now because he’s already read it’,” Jones says.

“So what I say is my listeners and my viewers are often my best researchers, and there will be many, many stories out there which are very important and which resonate, but which don’t get the kind of coverage (they deserve).”

Jones has no plans to dedicate a lot of airtime to the pandemic.

“You’ve got to change the pace because the person that’s viewing the program is sick and tired of the coronavirus,” he says.

Jones, who spent 35 years on radio, envisages that his new show will cover between eight and 12 important issues each episode, featuring regular guests such as Mark Latham, Campbell Newman, Peta Credlin and Cate McGregor.

The program, which will air live Monday to Thursday nights, will also include Jones’ editorial comments and a panel, including politicians from all sides. There will be coverage of economics and sport, plus interviews with celebrities and a good news segment.

The show will also go on the road to speak to ordinary, working Australians, says Jones, who hails from a rural town in the Toowoomba region in Queensland.

Jones, who signed off from his top-rating breakfast radio show at the end of May on doctor’s orders, says his “health is unbelievable”, adding that he plays a bit of tennis and relaxes on his veranda overlooking Sydney Harbour.

He has also been very busy tidying up his personal affairs, including updating all his files, contact details and other work-related matters.

“I managed to get a few days to myself. I went up to see my stallions in the Hunter Valley and see that they’re all in good shape. So it’s been good, and I’ve had lots of sleep-ins and a few coffees on the veranda looking out at the harbour which I haven’t been able to do for years and years, so I’m not complaining.”

Jones regards not having to get up at 2.30am five days a week for his former radio show a holiday.

“I watch television that I’ve never watched before, and I think I don’t have to say ‘I’ve got to go now because I’ve got a program to put together’, so to that extent the lifestyle is a holiday in itself.”

Jones hasn’t tuned in to hear Ben Fordham and Neil Breen, who Nine Entertainment tapped to take over his radio show on Sydney’s 2GB and Brisbane’s 4BC, respectively.

“I’ve never, ever listened to another radio program because at the end of the day you want to be your own person,” he says, adding that he wishes both of them well.

As well as the Alan Jones show on Sky News, which is majority owned by News Corp Australia, Jones writes columns for The Australian and The Daily Telegraph.