John Laws, Australian radio’s ‘Golden Tonsils’ who
dominated airwaves for six decades – obituary
Unapologetically provocative broadcaster’s ability to
connect with his audience significantly influenced talkback radio
John Laws,
Australian talkback radio star, dies aged 90
The Guardian
By Jennifer King
November 9, 2025
At his peak, the Australian talkback legend John Laws was
one of the highest-paid radio broadcasters in the world. Over his more than
six-decade career, it seemed at times that everything he touched turned to
gold. He was dubbed the “Golden Tonsils” by his fans for his rich, melodious
timbre. Everything from his golden microphone and chunky golden rings to his
skyrocketing ratings and the advertising revenue he generated glowed.
Laws, who has died aged 90, began his career in regional
Victoria as an 18-year-old and grew to inspire a huge and devoted audience, but
also condemnation for his role in the “cash-for-comment” scandal and other
controversies. To his loyal listeners, Laws was a voice who heard their
concerns and spoke up for them. He became immensely influential, securing the
friendship of politicians and stars.
Mornings with Laws were filled with a mix of pop politics
and talkback, interspersed with effusive advertorials. His popularity and the
intense relationship with his listeners was such that by the early 1980s
politicians began to use their time on his program to make policy
announcements.
In 1999, Laws found himself entangled in the
cash-for-comment scandal
“Forget the press gallery; educate John Laws and you
educate Australia,” Paul Keating once said.
Five days a week, with a rumble of “Hello world, I’m John
Laws”, he would begin his morning show at whichever commercial radio station he
was then conquering. His voice, once described as “music to a woman’s ovaries”,
also added lustre to television advertisements for engine oil, fly spray and
Holden cars.
Laws did not achieve his fame and success without
controversy. In 1999, he was at the centre of the cash-for-comment scandal
alongside his fellow 2UE broadcaster Alan Jones. The pair were accused of
accepting payments from companies in exchange for favourable on-air commentary.
Both denied any wrongdoing.
“Nobody has suggested I have broken any law. But you
would think from the controversy that it was first-class industrial espionage
or industrial rape,” Laws said at the time.
Richard John Sinclair Laws was born on 8 August 1935 in
Wau, New Guinea, to Richard Laws and Agnes Sinclair. He had one sister, Jenny.
During the second world war, the family moved to Sydney, where Laws attended
Mosman Preparatory School and Knox Grammar School. He had polio twice, once as
a child and again as a young man, but rarely spoke about it. Laws, who said he
was not close to either of his parents, also admitted to bouts of depression
throughout his life. After leaving school, he worked as a jackaroo in western
New South Wales before beginning the radio career that would change his life at
3BO in Bendigo, Victoria, in 1953.
At age 16 he met 14-year-old Caroline Cameron Waller at a
dance. However, the couple drifted apart, each marrying and having families of
their own. Two decades later, they bumped into each other in the Tunnel of Love
at Sydney’s Luna Park and, in 1976, they finally married, blending their
families and becoming parents to nine children. Laws said he had fallen in love
with “his princess” the moment they met. They were married for 43 years and her
death in 2020 devastated Laws.
Not all were charmed by Laws. Described by one journalist
as “an Easter Island head” and a “monument to a vanished broadcast culture”,
and by another as like “a Galápagos tortoise on its hind legs”, Laws remained
stubborn in the face of criticism and voiced his opinions, regardless of outcry
or distress.
He was found in contempt of court for interviewing a
juror in 2000 and received a suspended jail sentence. In 2001, his show was
found to have breached the rules around decency and the treatment of suicide.
In 2013, Laws asked a tearful female caller describing her childhood sexual
assault if she might not have been at fault.
Two years later, he told a distressed older male listener
who had called in to describe his childhood sexual abuse to “go to the pub and
have a lemonade” and, although he had been empathic, Laws was criticised for
his lack of awareness. In 2015, the former Socceroo Tim Cahill hung up on Laws
after he repeatedly questioned him about his wealth.
In 2021 he was found to have breached the commercial
radio code after calling a listener “mentally deficient” and urging them to
“say something constructive, like you’re going to kill yourself”.
“I’d hate to think I was very cruel. I’m certainly rude
and I’m certainly impatient, intolerant and a lot of things I shouldn’t be” he
told Studio 10 in 2017.
He called his producers “handmaidens” and insisted they
wear skirts or dresses to work although at least one former female employee
maintained he was always a courteous boss and said “his old-fashioned manner
felt respectful” to her.
Laws remained stubborn in the face of criticism and
voiced his opinions, regardless of outcry or distress
Laws gained a legion of new fans in 2012 after appearing
on the ABC’s 7.30 program. In an interview with then anchor Leigh Sales, he
flirted with her while wearing dark glasses and sipping a bourbon and coke in
his harbourside home.
“Remember the alleged cash for comment garbage that went
on? I’m going to die with that even though all I was accused of was being
excessively loyal to my sponsors, and I’m rather proud of that,” he told Sales.
Laws worked most often at 2UE, followed by 2GB, with a
decade at 2UW. After his first retirement in 2007, he returned to the airwaves,
joining 2SM in 2011 as their morning show broadcaster.
He appeared in several television shows and films,
including alongside Mick Jagger in the 1970 film Ned Kelly. Laws also produced
several collections of poetry which sold well, although the journalist Bob
Ellis once described him as “the worst poet in the whole history of the world”.
Laws also sang and wrote country and western songs. He wrote several books,
including a barbecue cookbook, collected art and at one point owned 38
vehicles.
Laws was inducted into the Australian Radio Hall of Fame
in 2003 and was presented his award by Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on
the moon. He received an Aria lifetime achievement award in 2008.
He is survived by his extensive family.
John Laws,
broadcaster, born 8 August 1935; died 9 November 2025.
LAWS, John (Richard John Sinclair Laws)
Born: 8/8/1935, Wau, New Guinea
Died: 11/9/2025, Sydney, New South Wales,
Australia
John Laws’s western – actor:
Ned Kelly – 1970 (Kennedy)
