The Greens created and maintained a secret dossier that catalogues allegations against Senator Jordon Steele-John and set out ways to shut down media coverage and monitor members who raised concerns on social media.
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who → create → media
The crisis communications strategy obtained by this masthead reveals that as far back as 2016, before Steele-John was parachuted into the Senate in 2017, the party was managing complaints.
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party → obtain → complaints
The document reveals that one senior Greens official quit her role because Steele-John was reinstated as the WA branch’s volunteer co-ordinator, even though two women had lodged complaints alleging Steele-John had made inappropriate remarks while working with them.
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John → reveal → them
The 47-page dossier, stored on a Google Drive folder accessible to Western Australian Greens and national Greens staff for close to a decade, was first drafted in 2016 and has been updated in the years since.
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dossier → store → years
It sets out ways to shut down media coverage of allegations about Steele-John, while also instructing taxpayer-funded Greens staff to monitor social media discussions and take screenshots of comments posted by party members.
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It → set → members
This masthead has confirmed with four former Greens staffers that the dossier was real and that it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader’s office to manage stories about Steele-John.
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it → confirm → John
Steele-John on Thursday took leave from the Greens party room after leader David Shoebridge received a letter from seven active Greens members demanding an independent investigation into allegations from party members that the WA senator made multiple inappropriate comments to women over the past decade.
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senator → take → decade
The senator referred the matter to the WA Greens for an independent investigation, while rejecting the allegations.
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senator → refer → allegations
“I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not,” Steele-John said in a statement provided to this masthead.
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John → reject → masthead
“These claims are made without specifics, any allegation of this nature is extremely serious and must be treated accordingly.
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allegation → make → nature
If someone has made an allegation, I am prepared to address it.
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I → make → it
On Friday morning, Shoebridge confirmed Steele-John would take a leave of absence from parliament during the investigation.
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John → confirm → investigation
In an email sent to WA Greens members on July 29, 2017, Sarah Nielsen-Harvey – then a party co-convener – announced that she was resigning after less than a year in the job, saying she wanted to focus on her university studies.
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she → send → studies
Co-conveners are administrators who oversee the party’s governance and provide day-to-day management and co-ordination.
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who → oversee → management
The letter contained an oblique reference to turmoil inside the WA branch: “There are also a few things that over this year that have manifested in behaviour and culture that I cannot in good conscience continue being involved with right now”.
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I → contain → conscience
Five days later on August 3, the independent website True Crime News Weekly published a story about allegations made against Steele-John by two volunteers, whose names this masthead has chosen not to publish.
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masthead → publish → names
The story alleged that Steele-John, who was not yet a senator, had been accused of making inappropriate comments by “at least two young female members of the Greens in Western Australia.”
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who → allege → Australia
Eventually, the two women decided not to pursue the complaint and, as the crisis communications dossier makes clear, a form of words was agreed: the two women had had a “dispute of an interpersonal nature” with Steele-John but had decided to leave it there.
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women → decide → it
The real reason she resigned
However, the dossier includes a follow-up email sent on August 17, 2017 to senior party office bearers, including former state Greens leader Elizabeth “Giz” Watson and co-convener Grahame Bowland, in which Nielsen-Harvey made clear the real reason she had quit the party.
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she → resign → party
“I would just like to clear up a few things after receiving accusations that I am ‘about to wreck the good reputation of the Greens’.
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I → like → Greens
I am incredibly hurt by this and it is an unfair allegation,” she began.
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she → hurt → this
“I could have included my concerns of… allegations in my resignation email.
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I → include → email
I did not.”
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I → do → ?
She then detailed contact with journalists, including at Junkee, True Crime News Weekly and The Australian, about her resignation and the allegations against Steele-John, but states that she had not assisted any of the journalists.
“
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she → detail → journalists
I would like to know where along this journey, since this time last year, it is me ruining the good reputation of the Greens,” Nielsen-Harvey wrote.
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Harvey → like → Greens
“I am not the one allegations were levelled at.
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allegations → level → ?
I am not the one who, after being made aware of the allegations, decided to still dismiss member involvement in choosing their senator, despite the very real risk that these allegations could very well come up and jeopardise retaining our Senate spot on this rotation.
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allegations → make → rotation
I am not the one who has chased down and tipped off journalists.
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who → chase → journalists
“I am not the one trying to silence members into not talking about this at all.
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I → try → this
The bullying that has happened since Jordon’s decision to accept the role has astounded me.
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that → happen → me
Never have I felt unsafe to go to a Greens meeting or office.
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I → feel → meeting
In a separate post to a private Facebook group on August 4, Nielsen-Harvey wrote that she was “disgusted” by the Greens’ decision to re-employ Steele-John as volunteers co-ordinator in the lead up to the 2017 WA state election, when the party was aware of the allegations against him.
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party → write → him
Nielsen-Harvey remains a member of the Greens, but holds no administrative or elected positions.
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Harvey → remain → positions
Watson, a former leader of the party in state parliament and now a co-convenor of the WA Greens with Simone Collins, said on Thursday the branch was supporting the commission of an independent inquiry into Steele-John.
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branch → say → John
In November 2017, Steele-John was parachuted into the federal Senate when former WA Senator Scott Ludlam was disqualified because he held dual citizenship.
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he → parachute → citizenship
Steele-John has since made a name for himself as the party’s chief spokesman on the NDIS and mental health.
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John → make → NDIS
He has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair and has advocated for disability rights throughout his nine-year tenure in the Senate.
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He → have → Senate
Monitoring Greens members
But the dossier contains more than the complaints of one former party co-convener.
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dossier → monitor → convener
It contains more than a dozen screenshots from a private Young Greens Facebook group, and from X, in which party members and supporters discuss the allegations made by the two women against Steele-John and the party’s handling of them.
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members → contain → them
Then state convenor Sophie Greer, who helped deal with the initial complaint from the two women, was required to “reach out to them” – Greens members – if they had posted something negative about the newly minted senator and to take screenshots when people discussed the allegations.
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people → deal → allegations
…and 45 more, not listed.
The Aporia
