A workplace relations lawyer has questioned the ARN’s decision to terminate Kyle Sandilands’ $100 million contract, marking the official end to the long-running Kyle and Jackie O show.
Yesterday, the radio network officially severed ties with Sandilands, two weeks after it had place him on notice for “serious misconduct” relating to his treatment of co-presenter Jackie ‘O’ Henderson on the 20 February. Henderson refused to work with Sandilands, leading to her contract being terminated, and now ARN has terminated Sandilands’ contract.
There has been wide conjecture about whether Sandilands and Henderson would challenge ARN’s decisions in court.
B&T spoke to workplace relations lawyer Michael Byrnes about legal impasse.
“ARN’s position has some problems, including the fact that they allowed him to continue on air after 20 February. There were a further six broadcasts from 20 February to the time of suspension, which was the Tuesday week following,” Byrnes, a partner in Swaab said.
“And also the objective seriousness of the conduct. Sure, Kyle didn’t exactly distinguish himself, but query whether it is serious misconduct, particularly given the nature of the program and the fact that they’ve had similar exchanges before, which have not had those sorts of consequences.”
During the live broadcast, Sandilands attacked Henderson’s interest in horoscopes and astrology, accusing her of being “off with the fairies”. He said her interests prohibited her from doing her job properly, visibly leaving Henderson in tears.
Based on previous on-air arguments between the pair, Byrnes believes that “there is a credible argument for Kyle to mount” that his behaviour was not out of the ordinary.
“It’s going to be a minute examination of what occurred on 20 February, contextualised by the nature of the show and what has occurred previously between Kyle and Jackie O in terms of their exchanges on air. That’s what it’s going to turn on, and it’s because ARN relied upon his conduct in their earlier statement on 20 February as the basis for the alleged serious misconduct.”
Sandilands responded to the termination by stating he’s not finished with the dispute and it’s now over to his lawyers.
“ARN has just announced that they’ve terminated my contract. I don’t accept it,” he said in a statement. “My lawyers told them last week this would be invalid. And guess what? It is.”
Sandilands continued on explaining his version of everything that had happened in the past two weeks.
“Jackie and I had a blue on air. That’s it. The kind of thing we’ve done a hundred times in 25 years. And ARN took the situation and decided to try and burn the place down. They sacked Jackie. They suspended me. They wouldn’t even let me pick up the phone to call her or anyone else on the show. Then — and this is the bit that gets me — once they’d made it impossible for the show to go on, they turn around and say, ‘You didn’t fix it. You’re fired!’”
Kyle argues he did try and fix the problem, even though in his opinion the media company made it difficult to do so.
“I said sorry to Jackie the night of our blow-up. And when I said I was sorry to Jackie, I meant it. I still mean it. But it doesn’t mean I will stand by while I am separated from the people who’ve listened to me every morning for 25 years,” he said.
“Before they suspended me, ARN said, “Let us handle it,” and I listened. In the two weeks since, I’ve done everything ARN asked. I said, put me back on air. I’ll work with Jackie. I’ll work with someone else. Whatever you need. Every single time — “no.” They weren’t interested. They didn’t want to fix this. They thought they saw a chance to get out of the contract they signed with me a year ago, and they ran with it.”
The contract saga between Sandilands and ARN is far from over.
“I’ve got a contract until 2034. I’ve got rights under that contract. And ARN hasn’t honoured the contract. So, it’s over to my lawyers,” Sandilands said.
What Next For Kyle?
Just in case things didn’t work out between ARN and Sandilands, the shock jock has been exploring separate opportunities. On Saturday, the 54-year-old broadcaster met with Stu Laundy, the son of billionaire Arthur Laundy who recently bought Nine Entertainment’s radio assets, including 2GB in Sydney, 3AW in Melbourne, 4BC in Brisbane and 6PR in Perth.
What makes this catch-up intriguing is the fact that Bruno Bouchet—Sandilands’ manager—was present. Not to mention Laundy was equipped with a notepad and a pen.
Sandilands has even tossed up the potential of taking over ARN if it refuses to put him back on air.
Sources close to Sandilands told The Daily Telegraph that those conversations of him purchasing the media company are at early stage, and there is no suggestion that any deal is close.
If Sandilands does manage to get back on air, there are additional imposed conditions that he will have to adhere to.
The new conditions imposed by The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) will remain in force for five years and will apply to the ARN licensees when broadcasting the Kyle & Jackie O Show or any other program hosted by him and/or Jacqueline Henderson.
Enforcement actions available to the ACMA in the event of breaches by ARN of the additional licence conditions include court‑enforceable undertakings, remedial directions, civil penalties, or suspension or cancellation of the broadcasting licence.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin said this action follows multiple failures by the licensees to meet their obligations under the Code.
“To date ARN management have been unwilling or unable to control the content that has gone to air. These additional licence conditions mean further breaches will attract strong enforcement action that was not otherwise available to the ACMA,” said O’Loughlin.
The conditions also require the licensees to commission an independent audit of their governance framework by a qualified compliance expert, provide the report and its recommendations to the ACMA, and implement the recommendations within agreed timeframes.
“This requirement is designed to strengthen foundational governance structures and reduce the risk of further non‑compliance. The ball is now firmly in ARN’s court to take control of the content they are responsible for,” Ms O’Loughlin said.
This action follows findings by the ACMA in 2025 of nine breaches of the decency provisions of the Code of Practice by the program.
The breaches came from two episodes of a guessing game where audio clips of male and female staff members urinating were aired, with hosts guessing which audio belonged to which staff member.
Both episodes included comments about the genitals of participants, and in the female staff member episode, graphic comments about menstruation and oral sex—something that shouldn’t be expressed between 6am and 10am on weekdays.
These expletives extended into another on-air game where a contestant provided an offensive description of a sexual position, and in a separate segment which contained lewd discussions about masturbation and pornography websites.
