Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE (born 8 August 1935) is a retired Australian radio announcer who had a broadcasting career that spanned 71 years.

Laws' radio show was syndicated throughout Australia for many years and was consistently one of the most popular and influential programs in the Australian media.

Laws is also a familiar voice for generations of Australians through his large and varied body of work as a voice-over artist for commercials, and as a celebrity endorser of commercial products, notably Valvoline motor oil, with his popular catchphrase "Valvoline, you know what I mean" and Oral-B toothbrushes (the slogan "Oral-B, the toothbrush more dentists use").

Born in Wau, Papua New Guinea, on 8 August 1935, to Australian parents,[3] Laws contracted polio twice – once as a child, and again as a young man.

In 1983, Communications lecturer Glen Lewis wrote of Laws: He sets the agenda by complaining vigorously about something, lays down the line for the day, then accepts calls which mostly reflect his own viewpoint... he mostly gets the restatement of cliched views [from callers]... Technically, he foregrounds minority group negative stereotyping in his show.

Informally, he specialises in moral crusades against the unrespectable weak – the unemployed, prisoners, homosexuals, anti-nuclear demonstrators – in the name of the upright citizen and honest taxpayer.

[7] Laws told columnist Valda Marshall in 1970 that he was 'not basically a TV star' and didn't 'feel altogether happy with the medium'.

[20] In 2004, Laws and rival talk-back host Alan Jones were accused of taking payment to make favourable comments on products and services under the guise of merely expressing personal opinion, after entering into deals with Telstra.

Laws, apparently angered by what he saw as inequitable treatment, launched stinging attacks on Jones and the ABA's head, David Flint.

In November 2004, Laws and 2UE colleague Steve Price were found guilty of vilifying homosexuals after an on-air discussion about a gay couple appearing in the reality TV show The Block.

[22] Laws had previously apologised for another incident in which he called gay TV personality Carson Kressley, of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, a "pillow-biter" and a "pompous little pansy prig".

[25] In December 2007, during a long lunch at Sydney's Otto Ristorante to farewell his former personal assistant, Laws was informed of the presence of rival broadcasters Derryn Hinch and Bob Rogers at another table nearby.

Eventually 2UE colleague Mike Carlton convinced Laws to return to his table and Hinch and Rogers were left to laugh off the altercation.

[30] Laws' management confirmed in November 2010 that he would be returning to radio, following the expiry of the no-compete clause that prevented him from signing with a new network.

[35] In 2015, Laws referred to a male victim of child sexual assault as a "wet blanket" and told him to "brighten up".

The incident was later investigated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, who in March 2021 released a report finding Laws had breached two provisions of the Commercial Radio Code of Practice in broadcasting this statement.

[38] In 1996, a portrait of John Laws by artist Paul Newton won the Packing Room award at the Archibald Prize.

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating called him the "broadcaster of the century" at Laws 40th anniversary dinner.

His first three LPs and the seventh, You've Never Been Trucked Like This Before, are primarily covers of country and middle of the road hits; the fourth, The Mind and the Music, was made up of original Laws songs.