Overview
- Seven current and former Western Australian Greens staffers sent a letter to new federal leader David Shoebridge calling for an independent inquiry into multiple allegations about Senator Jordon Steele‑John.
- The WA division has appointed employment law firm Modern Legal to conduct the probe and the investigation is expected to begin imminently.
- Steele‑John has strongly denied any wrongdoing, said he is not taking leave, and publicly contested his leader’s account while the ABC reported he will not attend parliament next week.
- Reporting indicates at least two women may be prepared to give evidence under protections and that a previously used crisis‑communications dossier and earlier internal mishandling of complaints have raised questions about the party’s past responses.
- Commentators and party figures differ over whether the timing reflects factional politics ahead of WA preselection contests, and journalists who covered the story say material was gathered over several years.