Shoebridge denies knowledge of Steele-John dossier
Greens leader David Shoebridge says he did not know of an alleged 47-page crisis management document about how to deal with allegations against Jordon Steele-John becoming public.
Nine newspapers reported the existence of a "secret dossier", first drafted in 2016, containing misconduct allegations against Steele-John and how to suppress their media coverage, according to The Guardian.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported further detail about the alleged document, including that it was stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade and was updated in the years since it was first drafted. The paper reported that the dossier instructed taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members, and that four former Greens staffers confirmed the dossier was real and was used by the WA Greens and the national leader's office to manage stories about Steele-John, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Shoebridge denied the claim about his office. He said the document was not "made by, used by, or seen by the leader's office".
Steele-John, a Western Australian Greens senator who entered the Senate in 2017, confirmed he would leave the party room after details of historical complaints about inappropriate comments made to women between 2017 and 2025 were aired in the media. He rejected the claims against him.
Shoebridge said he referred complaints outlined in a letter to the parliamentary workplace support service, which provides confidential support for Commonwealth parliamentary staff and parliamentarians. He confirmed Steele-John would not return to parliament until independent investigations had been completed. The WA Greens said they would seek legal advice on how best to establish an independent inquiry into the matters raised.
Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations that Steele-John made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade. He denies he knew about the historic complaints between 2017 and 2025 until receiving that letter, according to SBS.
The reports also revisited events from 2017. A senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch's volunteer coordinator after two women lodged complaints alleging he made inappropriate remarks. Sarah Nielsen-Harvey announced her resignation as WA Greens co-convener in an email to members on 29 July 2017, after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on university studies. On 3 August 2017, True Crime News Weekly published a story alleging Steele-John had been accused of making inappropriate comments by at least two young female Greens members in Western Australia.
