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Jordon Steele John’s ex arrested on stalking charges as WA Greens inquiry begins

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Cite

Massola, J., & Hastie, H. (2026, November 5). Jordon Steele John’s ex arrested on stalking charges as WA Greens inquiry begins. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/jordon-steele-john-s-ex-arrested-on-stalking-charges-as-wa-greens-inquiry-begins-20261105-p61bii.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-11-05 · by James Massola, Hamish Hastie
Content note This article describes sexual violence.

Quick Summary

A former partner of Jordon Steele-John, a WA Greens senator facing allegations of inappropriate behavior, was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking and attempted extortion. This occurred on the same day that the WA Greens announced an independent investigation into Steele-John’s conduct following complaints from seven current and former party members about his alleged inappropriate comments toward women. The investigation will examine whether Steele-John engaged in a pattern of harassment or abuse, focusing specifically on incidents involving female colleagues.
Written by AI on 2026-11-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

A 40-year-old woman has been charged with aggravated stalking and attempted extortion against Western Australian Greens senator Jordon Steele-John. Police allege she is a former partner of Steele-John, who was absent from parliament last week following allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women between 2017 and 2025. The woman faces charges in the Perth Magistrates Court for threats demanding property by written means. An independent investigation into these allegations has been initiated by the WA Greens. Steele-John denied all claims in a lengthy statement posted to social media, while some party members urged leader David Shoebridge to investigate further.

Written for “Jordon Steele-John's Ex Arrested” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 130396 · logged 2026-11-05

Story

📰 Jordon Steele-John's Ex Arrested
Politics · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
ABC News (AU)
Hedges 0 of 8 claims Outlet record 67/100
The Guardian
Hedges 1 of 8 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
5%
1 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
3
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 6149 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

James Massola
18 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The former partner of Jordon Steele-John at the centre of inappropriate conduct allegations against the WA Greens senator will face a Perth court on Thursday after she was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking and attempted extortion.
🔮 Anthony Albanese and his cabinet really couldn’t have chosen a worse moment to undertake the sweeping tax changes in its most recent budget.
🔮 This year’s event, held in Antigua and Barbuda, couldn’t have come at a worse time for Anthony Albanese.
🔮 On Tuesday, a woman cited in the letter came forward expressing dismay the WA senator went public with details about their relationship.
🔮 Canavan’s potential move to the lower house has been long mooted, but the seat is expected to be hotly contested by One Nation, potentially by the party’s national director James Ashby.
🔮 First and foremost, whether the women who experienced the alleged misconduct will actually come forward and speak to the inquiry.
🔮 Crucially, the prime minister said the motive of the suspect was not yet known and refused to speculate on what it might have been, but the presence of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke alongside Albanese spoke volumes about what the government seems to believe has occurred.
🔮 The senator criticised Shoebridge for saying he had requested time off “because I knew it would be read as validating a story where there isn’t one”.
🔮 I will, of course, participate in any investigation that follows a specific allegation” but alleges that the motive for pushing for an inquiry now is to influence forthcoming party preselections.
🔮 On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
Also by James Massola
There are no good choices left for Albanese, only hard ones
2026-11-03 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 18 articles by James Massola →
Hamish Hastie
32 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The former partner of Jordon Steele-John at the centre of inappropriate conduct allegations against the WA Greens senator will face a Perth court on Thursday after she was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking and attempted extortion.
🔮 Sadly, that then extends to real life, where in my electorate office we will often get calls.”
🔮 Recreational fishers will be able to fish for species including snapper and dhufish off the West Australian coast when a controversial ban lifts in September next year, but where they drop a line will be highly restricted and fishing will be restricted to winter months under changes flagged in an inquiry into the ban on Tuesday.
🔮 Last year, Krishnan said he had stepped back from the day-to-day activities of his business, but would sometimes assist his wife when she had queries.
🔮 Perth Airport boss Jason Waters is “confident” the state government will tinker with its train timetable to better cater the Airport Line for fly-in, fly-out workers.
🔮 There are no windows in the back, the condensation from your breath clinging to the roof drips down your neck, and you have to fold your body in half just to fit, but for a submariner stranded hundreds of metres underwater, boarding the LR5 would feel like getting into the back of a Rolls Royce.
🔮 A 56-year-old Bentley man has since been charged with being armed in a way that may cause fear, making a threat, and possessing cannabis.
🔮 Higher Education Minister Tony Buti says his government hasn’t “articulated” the benefits of a university merger as a hostile upper house look set to kill the proposal before it even gets off the ground.
🔮 Whitby was one of several WA politicians expressing dismay and shock after Victorian Independent MP Helen Haines was hit by a car on Monday afternoon in what appears to be a targeted attack.
🔮 The senator criticised Shoebridge for saying he had requested time off “because I knew it would be read as validating a story where there isn’t one”.
Also by Hamish Hastie
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 32 articles by Hamish Hastie →

Topics

Greens Perth WA Greens WA Police the WA Greens

Subjects

Steele-John PERSON · 11× Greens ORG · 3× Humphry PERSON · 2× Modern Legal ORG · 2× Perth GPE · 2× WA Greens ORG · 2× WA Police ORG · 2× the WA Greens ORG · 2× David Shoebridge PERSON · 1× Jordon Steele-John PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The terms of reference also include a probe into the Steele-John crisis communications document revealed by this masthead, as well as how the Greens handle complaints and whether this has blocked formal reports of problems within the party. “Determine, based on evidence, whether complaints or disclosures were directed away from official channels, by whom, and on what basis (including any documented reasons, including evidence of cover-up or active dissuasion from complaining) or were otherwise improperly or inadequately handled,” it said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-05
🔮 The former partner of Jordon Steele-John at the centre of inappropriate conduct allegations against the WA Greens senator will face a Perth court on Thursday after she was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking and attempted extortion.
2026-11-05 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Jordon Steele John’s ex arrested on stalking charges as WA Greens inquiry begins · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 1 hedged)

The former partner of Jordon Steele-John at the centre of inappropriate conduct allegations against the WA Greens senator will face a Perth court on Thursday after she was arrested and charged with aggravated stalking and attempted extortion. asserted
she → face → stalking
WA Police confirmed family violence investigation squad detectives charged the 40-year-old woman on Wednesday, the same day that the WA Greens announced the beginning of its independent investigation into Steele-John. asserted
Greens → confirm → John
The woman’s relationship with Steele-John last year was cited in a letter sent last month to new Greens leader David Shoebridge by seven current and former Greens members and political staffers, urging him to investigate allegations about the WA senator’s inappropriate comments around women. asserted
year → cite → women
The woman accused Steele-John of removing a condom during sex without consent, an act known as stealthing. asserted
woman → accuse → stealthing
That claim was investigated by WA Police, but the inquiry was closed with no charges laid. uncertain
charges → investigate → Police
In response to the letter, Steele-John posted a 2400-word statement on Facebook, where he discussed their relationship and accused his ex-partner of being abusive as well as sending hundreds of messages. asserted
he → post → messages
The woman told this masthead that after Steele-John revealed he was seeing someone else, she had a “full-on meltdown” and sent a flurry of messages, but she denied harassment or making any threats. asserted
she → tell → threats
The woman expressed her dismay at Steele-John’s Facebook post, which revealed intimate details of their relationship, and said she intended to take part in the WA Greens inquiry. In November 2025, Steele-John was granted an interim restraining order, ex parte, against the woman. asserted
John → express → woman
The order imposed a number of conditions, including that the senator not be harassed, intimidated or communicated with, and that the woman not approach closer than 10 metres. asserted
woman → impose → metres
After attempting to contest the interim family violence restraining order, the Perth woman and Steele-John settled out of court; nine months later, in September 2026, they consented to a conduct agreement order, which mirrored the interim restraining order. asserted
which → attempt → order
In a post to its website on Wednesday, the WA Greens announced the investigation was under way and anyone wanting to share information or their experiences should contact lead investigator Alison Humphry of Modern Legal, the law firm selected to run the inquiry. asserted
anyone → announce → inquiry
The terms of reference of the Modern Legal investigation stated that it was a workplace investigation, with a prime focus to “conduct a rigorous fact-finding process regarding specific allegations of misconduct by Senator Steele-John”, it said. asserted
it → state → John
Humphry has been tasked with establishing the timeline, nature, and specific details of alleged harassment, abuse, or inappropriate conduct involving Steele-John. asserted
Humphry → task → John
She will then determine whether they were isolated incidents or an “ongoing pattern of behaviour” and whether they breached parliamentary or party codes of conduct. asserted
they → determine → conduct
The terms of reference also include a probe into the Steele-John crisis communications document revealed by this masthead, as well as how the Greens handle complaints and whether this has blocked formal reports of problems within the party. “Determine, based on evidence, whether complaints or disclosures were directed away from official channels, by whom, and on what basis (including any documented reasons, including evidence of cover-up or active dissuasion from complaining) or were otherwise improperly or inadequately handled,” it said. asserted
it → include → complaining
“Assess whether parallel processes or informal practices created perceived or actual barriers to formal reporting, or discouraged individuals from seeking redress. asserted
processes → assess → redress
Evaluate whether a culture of silence or cover-up was created, fostered, or facilitated. asserted
culture → evaluate → silence
Anyone wanting to speak to Humphry has until November 11 to reach out. asserted
Anyone → want → November
The inquiry is slated to run for six weeks before the delivery of an interim report on the Steele-John allegations, and eight weeks for the final report. asserted
inquiry → slat → report
Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter. asserted
Subscribers → sign → newsletter
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