Federal senator takes leave after allegations of inappropriate remarks to women raised

Federal Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has taken leave from the party room after seven party members wrote a letter raising allegations that he made inappropriate remarks towards women.

First reported by The Sydney Morning Herald and confirmed by nine.com.au, the letter referred to multiple allegations of behaviour between 2017 and 2025 and was sent to Greens Leader David Shoebridge on Tuesday.

Certain matters raised have been subjected to previous reviews, including a police investigation.

Nine.com.au is not suggesting the allegations are true, only that they have been made.

In a statement on Thursday, Steele-John vehemently denied the allegations.

“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” he said.

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“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly.

“If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.”

Steele-John alleged he was the person who experienced family violence in one of the complaints levelled against him.

“I believe an allegation arises from a former relationship in which I was the victim of extensive, prolonged and deeply distressing domestic abuse,” he said.

“While I know disabled people in Australia are roughly twice as likely as people without disability to be abused, I missed the early warning signs of coercive control, and it took people close to me to realise that I was experiencing domestic abuse.

“I have been working with WA Police to address the abuse I have experienced. As this process is ongoing, I do not feel able to go into more detail at this time.”

Steele-John has requested leave from the party room and referred the matter to an independent complaints process commissioned by the WA Greens.

Shoebridge accepted his leave on Thursday and said he takes concerns of this nature “extremely seriously”.

“This matter needs to be resolved via a fair and independent review that ensures all parties are entitled to natural justice and procedural fairness,” he said in a statement.

“The Australian Greens take complaints seriously, and as leader I want to make it clear that the integrity of the complaints process is essential.”

Shoebridge has consulted the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service and the WA Greens in the first major test of his leadership since he was elected the top job in September.

At a brief press conference about the matter at Parliament House, Shoebridge insisted the review process would be independent and refused to speculate or provide further remarks about the matter.

“I think all those matters are getting well ahead of the core issue here, which is a fair, independent, and timely process,” he said.

It is unclear if Steele-John has taken leave from Parliament.

Steele-John was first elected as federal senator for Western Australia in 2017 as the youngest person to enter the senate at the time at 23 years old.

He is the Greens spokesperson for disability and mental health and led the party’s campaign against Labor’s cuts to the NDIS in August, albeit unsuccessfully after the government gained the Coalition’s support to pass the bill.