Greens Senator Skips Senate Hearings as Party Room Weighs Removal Vote
Jordon Steele-John will not attend Senate estimates while a misconduct probe remains unstarted, leaving David Shoebridge unable to order his leave without a party room ballot.
By Lorenzo Evans ·
A misconduct inquiry into a serving senator has become the first leadership test for David Shoebridge, who took over the federal Greens this month. The party has not started the investigation, and the senator named in the allegations is refusing to stand aside.
The Nine newspapers reported on October that a three-page letter reached Shoebridge calling for an independent review of Jordon Steele-John. The letter describes secondhand allegations that the Western Australian senator behaved inappropriately toward women between 2017 and 2025. Shoebridge announced that the 32-year-old would take leave while the review ran. Steele-John rejected the allegations and said he never agreed to leave parliament. He accused an internal faction of the WA Greens of playing "nasty political games" by sending the letter to media, and said he spoke out because silence could be read as guilt.
Shoebridge says Steele-John agreed to the leave arrangement, but he cannot order it himself. A secret ballot would need two thirds of the party room, more than seven members, to expel Steele-John. That threshold is out of reach for any single leader's decision, and an expulsion would damage Steele-John's standing even if the WA Greens' investigation cleared him.
The dispute lands in the middle of Senate estimates, when senators question officials on policy. Steele-John, the party's disability spokesperson, will not attend. He said in a statement issued late on Friday that he explored joining digitally but "been informed that would also be unacceptable". He said he would instead focus on "the independent and timely investigation I hope is soon commenced by the Greens WA".
No complainant has come forward directly, according to the source account. Steele-John is well regarded in the disability community, and the National Disability Insurance Scheme is due to change between now and the end of the decade. The Greens operate on consensus, so Shoebridge needs party room backing to pursue expulsion, and any move toward that vote would require a ballot he has not called.
Source: The Guardian
