WA politician says he considered attending Senate estimates virtually but was told it would be ‘unacceptable’
Jordon Steele-John has confirmed he will not attend parliament next week as the embattled Greens senator apologises for publicly releasing the letter outlining the claims against him.
On Saturday afternoon, Steele-John removed a social media post containing a three-page letter marked as “confidential” sent to the Greens leader, David Shoebridge, earlier this month. The letter urged an investigation into allegations he had acted inappropriately towards women between 2017 and 2025.
Steele-John has denied all allegations made against him.
The Western Australian senator said he’d heard the full letter had been circulating online and “didn’t want to be seen as hiding from it”.
“I’m now not sure that was the right call and I’ve taken it down. I am really sorry for any additional stress it caused,” he said on social media.
After days of confusion following historical complaints about alleged misconduct were publicly aired in the media, the now-deleted statement posted to social media late Friday night said he considered attending Senate estimates virtually but was told it would be “unacceptable”.
He would instead focus on seeing through an independent investigation to its conclusion, he said.
“Over the past few days there has been a growing chorus calling on me not to attend parliament next week. I have explored attending digitally but have been informed that would also be unacceptable,” Steele-John said.
Steele-John said a precedent of keeping parliamentarians out of parliament after “allegations of allegations” were made had now been set.
“Had an allegation or complaint been made against me, I would have taken these actions immediately,” he said.
The 32-year-old senator’s attendance in parliament for the remainder of the year had been uncertain after a public stoush with Shoebridge over whether he was on leave during the investigation.
The complaints are now subject to an independent investigation commissioned by the WA Greens and have been referred to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission.
Shoebridge claimed Steele-John had requested leave and he accepted it last week after seven party members penned a letter to the leader urging an investigation into the claims.
The three-page letter sent on 13 October, and first published by the Nine newspapers, said the authors had been “made aware of multiple allegations of serious misconduct” against Steele-John about his “behaviour in the presence of women”.
The letter referred to an allegation of sexual harassment at a Greens campaign event in 2024 that the alleged victim had not reported out of fear of backlash. The letter provided no further detail.
In another, the authors referred to an allegation of “serious sexual misconduct” in 2025. Steele-John later responded this was alleged by a former partner and was investigated by Western Australian police with a finding of “no charges”.
Guardian Australia has confirmed the WA police told Steele-John the investigation was closed in May with no charges.
Also contained in the letter was a reference to a disparaging nickname for Steele-John – “feels on wheels” – which the authors said implied he had a reputation for acting inappropriately.
“To be clear, all signatories to this letter know that an allegation does not equate to a fact and/or guilt. We simply believe that it is in the party’s best interests to ensure that every allegation is investigated thoroughly, in alignment with community and member expectations,” the letter’s authors wrote.
Steele-John was defiant in a lengthy statement last Sunday, rejecting the allegations against him, denying he agreed to take leave from parliament and accusing an internal faction within the Greens of playing “nasty political games” in their decision to release the letter to the media.
Steele-John said any claims of his alleged behaviour should be investigated “fairly and thoroughly” but accused an “unofficial faction” within the WA branch of releasing the complaint letter to the media in a bid to oust him from the Senate.
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Source: www.theguardian.com
