An anti-Australian party that takes its cues from Hamas for its political messaging and ideology, and never tires of lecturing everyone else, now faces claims it spent years protecting one of its own senators from allegations about his behaviour toward women.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported the Greens kept a 47-page "crisis communications" document for handling stories about WA Senator Jordon Steele-John, which news reports say was first drafted in 2016. The WA Greens have confirmed the document is authentic but say the allegations in it "were not substantiated and the named persons have never lodged a formal complaint." Leader David Shoebridge's office says it is "not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader's Office", while four former Greens staffers told the SMH it was used by the WA Greens and the national leader's office.

Steele-John denies wrongdoing. "I utterly reject this characterisation of me, which tries to assert I am someone I am not," he said. He has also said that in "the one complaint of which I have been made aware, I am the person who experienced family violence," describing a former relationship in which he says he was the victim of "extensive, prolonged and deeply distressing domestic abuse."

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None of the allegations has been tested, no finding has been made and no charge has been laid. The matter surfaced on 13 October, when seven current and former staffers and party members wrote to Shoebridge about "multiple allegations" between 2017 and 2025 that "all concern his behaviour in the presence of women." The letter names no specific incident, and its authors concede that "an allegation does not equate to a fact and/or guilt."

The questions reach beyond Western Australia. Anonymous sources quoted by news.com.au allege concerns were raised with the office of then leader Larissa Waters "last year", and that the person who raised them later complained nothing was done. News.com.au says it is unclear whether Waters saw the correspondence. She was contacted, and no reply has been reported.

That sits awkwardly beside Waters' own words in February 2021, when she said the Morrison government's internal reviews into the handling of Brittany Higgins' case were "a continuation of the culture of cover-up that has seen this issue fester and more women assaulted."

Critics were quick to point out that this is a party whose MPs voted against a motion condemning Hamas’s 7 October attacks in 2023. Instead, senators like Mehreen Faruqi were telling Australians that “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea,” while joining the same groups that deny sexual violence even occurred on 7 October. 

For now, Steele-John has taken leave and referred the matter to the WA Greens, which say they will seek legal advice on setting up an independent inquiry. There is no investigator or timeline, and the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service could not take it on.

Shoebridge, leader for about two weeks, says he "knew absolutely nothing" until taking the job, and will not commit to releasing the findings. "It is not my job as the leader of the Australian Greens to determine this process," he said.

Who will run the inquiry, and when it will start, remain open questions, as does whether Waters will answer the claims about her office and whether a party that demands transparency from everyone else will publish what its own inquiry finds.