View from The Hill: Shoebridge and his defiant senator at loggerheads over leave

The Greens’ internal crisis has escalated dramatically, with Leader David Shoebridge and Jordon Steele-John at odds over whether the embattled senator should, or agreed to, take leave while allegations against him are investigated.

Last week, after a letter from several (non-parliamentary) Greens members about the Western Australian Senator Jordon Steele-John’s alleged inappropriate behaviour towards women, Shoebridge said the WA Greens were conducting an investigation and the senator was taking leave from the party room.

But Steele-John, in a 2450 word statement late Sunday , challenged Shoebridge’s account, declaring he’s not on leave “and did not agree to the inclusion of that line within David’s statement”.

And just in case Shoebridge might try to enforce leave, Steele-John pointed out, “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”.

In light of Steele-John’s move, Shoebridge on Monday called a party meeting and then issued a statement through a spokesman.

That said Senator Shoebridge remains of the opinion that leave is appropriate under the circumstances and reiterates that this in no way prejudges any of the matters being referred to an inquiry commissioned by the WA Greens.

It was the understanding of Senator Shoebridge that leave was agreed.“ Shoebridge believes Steele-John should not be in parliament while the matter is under review.

Parliament is not sitting this week, but Senate estimates are on next week.

It is not clear what will happen if the leave question is not resolved by then.

The issue blew up last week after it was reported a number of party members sent a letter to Shoebridge saying they were aware of allegations over years about Steele-John’s behaviour "in the presence of women”.

The letter did not set out detail and the signatories were not complainants.

It’s understood one is no longer a party member.

In his Sunday statement Steele-John dealt with three matter in relation to the letter.

The first is the letter’s reference to his nickname “feels on wheels”.