Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John has released a lengthy statement hitting back at allegations against him while insisting he is not taking leave as the matters are investigated.

Steele-John posted the statement to Facebook on Sunday night after it was last week revealed that Greens colleagues had raised allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women from 2017 to 2025.

The allegations were contained in a letter from seven Greens members which was sent to Greens leader Senator David Shoebridge.

Responding in detail to each allegations in a 2400-word statement, Steele-John accused people within the Greens of playing “nasty political games”.

“Because these references have been widely reported as allegations in their own right, I want to address each one fully and directly,” he wrote.

“And I will explain how my experience of family violence collided with nasty political games, and why, despite what you’ve heard, I’m not on leave.”

Steele-John said the first matter raised against him related to his nickname “Feels on wheels”, which had taken on new connotations from its origin.

“Feels on wheels” is a name that members of other parties started using to refer to me after I became emotional early in my career while giving speeches about the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of Disabled People,” he said.

“Over the years, this nickname would periodically resurface like strategic clockwork, growing in lore each time.

“Eventually, I was informed that this phrase, which mocked my disability and my emotions, had taken on a new, more sinister meaning: that I had treated women inappropriately.

“And now, in this letter, the existence of the nickname itself is the allegation.”

On the second matter, Steele-John referred to an alleged incident of sexual harassment in 2024 at a Greens Party campaign event.

“I’m really concerned to read this. No details were provided in the letter, so unfortunately, at this point, I don’t know how I could respond, or how anyone would begin to investigate it.”

The third issue was a sexual misconduct complaint to the Greens in 2025 which Steele-John said stemmed from a previous relationship in which he claimed he was the victim of domestic abuse.

His statement goes into detail about the nature of that relationship and its alleged fallout.

He claims he was granted a court order for protection but allegedly continued to suffer a barrage of abuse from the woman.

“I reported her actions. She continues to be under investigation by the WA Police Family and Domestic Violence team.”

“This has been a traumatic period of my life, which has left me with ongoing fears,” he said.

Steele-John further accused an unofficial faction within the Greens of trying to smear him ahead of the next party preselection.

“It is my opinion that this is an attempt to influence forthcoming party preselections by deliberately leaking out of context or misleading information to smear potential candidates and myself.”

Finally, Steele-John said he felt pressured by Shoebridge to take leave when the letter surfaced last week.

“I was stunned by this. I had explained to him that the only complaint that had been made was by my abuser and as an experienced lawyer I had expected him to recognise that absent any specific allegations, there was no procedural need for me to take leave of any kind.

“I told him I would likely need some time at some point to look after myself, my team and my family, but I asked him, more than once, not to announce that I had requested leave, because I knew it would be read as validating a story where there isn’t one. And that is exactly what has happened.”

He said it was a “bad call” by the new party leader.

“So, to be clear, I am not on leave and did not agree to the inclusion of that line within David’s statement.

“The Leader of the Australian Greens doesn’t have the power to place a Greens MP on leave from Parliament, the party or the formal Party Room.

“I will continue to do my job in a way that supports my staff team, my family and my community. I believe that is what the community would expect.”

The WA senator said he self-referred the matters against him to an independent complaints process overseen by that state’s party wing.

The Greens leader said he first received word of complaints against Steele-John in a letter from the seven party members last Tuesday night.

The party took the claims “incredibly seriously”, he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

He did not stipulate whether he had heard allegations or rumours about the WA senator’s behaviour before taking the party’s top job on September 30.

“I received the correspondence in my capacity as leader of the Australian Greens and I’ve dealt with it with the urgency which I think is appropriate,” Shoebridge said.

Tuesday’s letter, extracts of which have been published by the Nine newspapers, said multiple female party members were warned not to be alone with Steele-John because of the allegations against him.

“These warnings have come from inside and outside the party, demonstrating that knowledge of his alleged reputation extends beyond party membership and out into the community,” it read.

“There are multiple others who were too fearful of backlash by Senator Steele-John and others in the party to sign on.”

Steele-John entered parliament in 2017 when he was 23, which at the time made him the youngest senator on record.

He is the party’s spokesman for disability and mental health, leading a campaign against NDIS cuts.

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