A former Greens aspirant has declared the party should not entrust its West Australian arm to investigate the allegations of misconduct towards women levelled against Greens senator Jordon Steele-John.
Megan Krakouer, a youth advocate and director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Project, nominated herself for preselection to run for the Greens in the federal seat of Fremantle last year but was overlooked.
Ms Krakouer, who is Indigenous, filed a human rights complaint against the party in the wake of the experience, alleging that a Greens volunteer vetting her application told one of Ms Krakouer’s referees that “we don’t want another Lidia Thorpe”, referring to the Victorian Indigenous senator who quit the Greens to sit as an independent.
On Friday, she told The Australian she had real doubts about whether the WA Greens could properly investigate the allegations that have surfaced against Senator Steele-John.
The senator has been accused of misconduct towards several women, with the alleged behaviour dating back almost a decade.
“The mere fact that they’re sending it back to the WA Greens to do an independent assessment concerns me because they all know each other, conflicts of interest are rife, and in my situation, my circumstances that I had with the Greens, I found that there was too much complacency and too much favouritism,” she said.
“It makes me wonder whether or not there’s going to be a true and independent process.”
The allegations against Senator Steele-John were detailed in a letter sent to new Greens leader David Shoebridge by seven active party members, five of whom are current Greens staffers. The Australian understands the authors of the letter have not explicitly given permission for Senator Shoebridge to share it.
Senator Steele-John, 32, has strongly rejected the allegations and said in a statement on Thursday that he had referred the matter to the WA Greens “so that a fair, independent process can be commissioned”.
The senator has taken leave from the partyroom and will not appear in parliament while the allegations are investigated.
The allegations first began to surface soon after Senator Steele-John entered parliament after the resignation of Scott Ludlam due to his dual citizenship.
Leaked minutes from a 2018 meeting of the NSW Young Greens showed that the party had been aware of at least some of the claims since then, while a leaked internal communications strategy noted that several publications, including The Australian, had made inquiries to the Greens about the allegations soon after he was sworn in as a senator.
Sherele Moody from Australian Femicide Watch posted that she had been aware of some of the allegations against Senator Steele-John for several years.
“The Greens under the previous leadership refused to act; many of the women who have come forward also shared what happened with me. They told me they repeatedly raised Jordon Steele-John’s behaviour with the Greens but were fobbed off,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
“They – and myself – have stayed silent due to defamation concerns. Even now it is hard to tell you the depth of the allegations shared with me.”
Mr Shoebridge is the fourth person to hold the federal Greens leadership since the allegations first began circulating, following Richard Di Natale, Adam Bandt and Larissa Waters.
The allegations have emerged ahead of what is shaping up as a hotly contested preselection battle for the WA Senate seat won for the Greens in 2022 by Dorinda Cox. Senator Cox defected to Labor in June 2025, just months after she was accused of bullying several Greens staffers.
Some of those complainants had accused the WA Greens of failing to act on repeated warnings about the senator’s alleged behaviour.
The Greens expect there’s a strong chance they’ll win back Senator Cox’s seat at the next federal election. Among the names floated as possible contenders for the seat are Senator Steele-John’s chief of staff, Sophie Greer, and current WA Greens upper house MP and former ABC reporter Sophie McNeill.
While Ms McNeill currently sits in the WA parliament, she frequently comments on Gaza in parliament and is widely seen as having aspirations to eventually enter federal politics.
Hannah McGlade, a human rights lawyer and expert member of the Noongar Family Safety Council, said the Greens would have sent a clearer message of support to victims of sexual misconduct everywhere if the party had stood down Senator Steele-John while the matter was investigated.
The Parliamentary Workplace Support Service has confirmed it has been made aware of a complaint about the behaviour of a Greens parliamentarian, revealing that it has not to date been provided with a copy of the letter making allegations against Senator Steele-John.
“The PWSS has advised the Greens Party of their options in this matter. These include the leader of the party referring the matter to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission for investigation,” a PWSS statement said.
“Party leaders may also provide complaints to the PWSS, and the PWSS chief executive can refer it directly to the IPSC. People working in a commonwealth parliamentary workplace affected by alleged conduct are eligible to lodge a complaint.”
The PWSS statement said the body was “here to support anyone who has worked in parliamentary workplaces”.
“When we know the identities of individuals who have been affected, we will reach out to offer confidential support,” the statement said.
“The PWSS does not generally comment on individual cases in keeping with the privacy and confidentiality principles which underpin its services.
“We are here to work closely with individuals and parliamentary offices to ensure wellbeing and safety at work and we encourage all parliamentarians and their staff to utilise our comprehensive services.”
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