Senator Jordon Steele-John has accused factions within the Greens of weaponising rumours about him for political reasons, and said he was not on leave from the party despite leader David Shoebridge saying so last week.
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Shoebridge → accuse → party
In a near 2400-word statement posted to social media on Sunday night, the WA Greens senator responded to complaints made about him in a letter by Greens members and maintained he would take part in an investigation about its contents.
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he → post → contents
“Because these references have been widely reported as allegations in their own right, I want to address each one fully and directly,” he wrote.
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he → report → one
“And I will explain how my experience of family violence collided with nasty political games, and why, despite what you’ve heard, I’m not on leave.”
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I → explain → leave
Steele-John’s response came after this masthead reported that seven Greens members wrote to Shoebridge last week regarding “multiple allegations” about the senator’s “behaviour in the presence of women” between 2017 and 2025.
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members → come → 2017
This masthead also revealed the Greens had kept a 47-page dossier that catalogued allegations against Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
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who → reveal → media
Shoebridge commissioned an investigation last week and said Steele-John was taking leave from the party room.
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John → commission → room
Steele-John strongly denied the claims against him, describing them as non-specific.
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John → deny → them
In his statement on Sunday, the senator elaborated with a lengthy post that said the original letter sent to Shoebridge did not detail any allegations, only said that the authors were aware that allegations existed.
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allegations → elaborate → allegations
Steele-John responded to three elements contained in last week’s letter before criticising the way Shoebridge handled the situation.
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Shoebridge → respond → situation
He said that rumours had been weaponised by factions in the WA Greens who were unhappy he joined the Senate 10 years ago, and that he was not on leave as the leader claimed.
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leader → say → leave
The senator’s response to claims in Greens letter
The letter to Shoebridge last week said Steele-John was referred to in parliament as “feels on wheels”.
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John → say → wheels
This masthead chose not to report the nickname in the original story.
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masthead → choose → story
In his statement, Steele-John said he had been called “feels on wheels” by staff within parliament because he became emotional early in his career while giving speeches about the disability royal commission.
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he → say → commission
“Eventually, I was informed that this phrase, which mocked my disability and my emotions, had taken on a new, more sinister meaning: that I had treated women inappropriately,” he said.
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he → inform → women
Second, Steele-John responded to a reference in the letter to an alleged incident at a Greens event in 2024 that the writers claimed had not been reported because of fears the alleged victim would not be believed.
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victim → respond → fears
“I’m really concerned to read this.
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I → ’m → this
No details were provided in the letter, so unfortunately, at this point, I don’t know how I could respond, or how anyone would begin to investigate it,” Steele-John said.
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John → provide → it
The third element of his response concerns allegations made about him by a woman that he had previously dated.
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he → concern → that
The statement elaborated on his initial comments last week about being a victim of family violence himself.
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statement → elaborate → violence
Steele-John claimed that his original election to the Senate in 2016 had upset some Greens members “who felt that their personal political ambitions had been upended” and pressured him to resign for another candidate.
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ambitions → claim → candidate
He claimed those people “couldn’t move on” and recruited more members to form an unofficial faction in the WA Greens.
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people → claim → Greens
He also said that group had heard rumours of an interpersonal conflict between him and two other people in 2017, and tried to “shop them to journalists as part of a smear campaign”.
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group → say → campaign
“In the lead-up to the 2019 election, the rumours resurfaced.
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rumours → resurface → election
This led to the creation of a Google Doc so that Greens staff and the party office all had the same accurate information to give anyone who had heard the rumours and was concerned.
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who → lead → rumours
One of its main purposes was to ensure journalists didn’t bombard these two women again.
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journalists → ensure → women
Neither woman made a complaint.”
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woman → make → complaint
Steele-John said it was “no coincidence” the letter was sent to Shoebridge “the day after we agreed on the timeline for the next preselection”.
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we → say → preselection
“It is my opinion that this is an attempt to influence forthcoming party pre-selections by deliberately leaking out of context or misleading information to smear potential candidates and myself.”
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this → influence → candidates
Steele-John says he is not on leave
Steele-John said he did not ask to take leave from the party room, as Shoebridge said during press conferences last Thursday and Friday.
“I very much understand the tremendous scrutiny David was under in his first week in Parliament as leader, and I have compassion for that.
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I → say → that
I also feel that he let me and my team down,” he said.
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he → feel → me
“On the morning the story was about to break, we had a series of meetings about how we would respond.
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we → break → meetings
I understand that he was stressed.
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he → understand → ?
But I feel that he used those meetings to repeatedly pressure me to say that I would take leave.
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I → feel → leave
I was stunned by this.”
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I → stun → this
Steele-John said he told Shoebridge he would need time off to look after himself but explicitly requested the leader “not to announce that I had requested leave, because I knew it would be read as validating a story where there isn’t one”.
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it → say → story
“And that is exactly what has happened,” he said.
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he → happen → ?
We’ve all made those in politics.
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We → make → politics
So, to be clear, I am not on leave and did not agree to the inclusion of that line within David’s statement.”
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I → agree → statement
He said Shoebridge, as federal leader, did not have the power to place a Greens MP on leave from parliament, the party or the party room.
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Shoebridge → say → parliament
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
