Jordon Steele-John

Jordon Alexander Steele-John (born 14 October 1994) is a British-born Australian politician and disability rights advocate. He is a Senator for Western Australia and a member of the Australian Greens.

He began his political career in 2013, and was elected by declaration to the Senate in 2017.

Steele-John holds the portfolios of Health, Disability Rights and Services, Foreign Affairs and Peace & Nuclear Disarmament for the Australian Greens.

Early life and career Born in the United Kingdom, Steele-John immigrated as a child to Australia with his parents and grandparents. He and his brother were home-educated.

He cites his upbringing and his parents as a major influence on his political standings.

Steele-John is a disability advocate who, as a student, campaigned for the Greens in both federal and state elections. He joined the Greens at age 16.

Steele-John studied politics at Macquarie University by correspondence. However, his appointment to the senate cut short his undergraduate studies.

Steele-John uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy. Steele-John renounced British citizenship at age eighteen in preparation for the 2013 federal election, and currently only holds Australian citizenship.

Political career Prior to being listed as third senate candidate for the Greens in the 2016 federal election (behind Scott Ludlam and Rachel Siewert), Steele-John had been a candidate for the WA Greens three times. He was first a candidate at the age of 18. He was a candidate in the March 2013 state election in the electorate of Warnbro (receiving 8.8% primary vote), the September 2013 federal election in the electorate of Fremantle (receiving 11.9% primary vote) and in the April 2014 special half-senate election which followed the result of the 2013 election being voided by the Court of Disputed Returns (as the fourth candidate on the Greens' list).

Steele-John entered the Senate after Scott Ludlam was forced to resign when he was found to be a dual citizen and in contravention of section 44 of the Australian Constitution. On 27 October 2017, the High Court of Australia, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, ordered the Australian Electoral Commission to conduct a recount of senate ballots in Western Australia, and Steele-John was declared elected at age 23, making him the youngest sitting member in the Australian parliament.

Steele-John was re-elected to the Senate at the 2019 federal election, securing 11.8% of the state's vote, with a swing of 1.48% in his favour.

Steele-John has previously held the Greens portfolios of Youth, Defence and Veterans’ Affairs, Digital Rights and I.T., Sustainable Cities, and Trade.

Steele-John has been on 9 Joint Standing Committees, 8 Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing committees and 4 Senate Select committees including one as chair.

Political positions

Disability rights and services In February 2018, Steele-John called for a Royal Commission into disabled prisoner abuse. In April 2018, Steele-John commented on Parliament House's need to become more wheelchair friendly.

In 2019, Steele-John's campaigning successfully led to the establishment of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. After years of raising the alarm that the confidentiality provisions in the Disability Royal Commission are insufficient, in 2021 he helped secure amendments that protect people making confidential disclosures to the Royal Commission.

In 2020, Steele-John successfully campaigned for a compensation scheme for thalidomide survivors, and in 2021 pressured the government to abolish independent assessments in the NDIS. He continues to campaign to increase the Disability Support Pension (DSP) and Carer Payment.

In 2023, Steele-John expressed his support for the expansion of ADHD diagnoses and treatments to more Australians. He cited the enormous stigmatisation of people with ADHD and the inaccessibility of the medication as motivating factors for this.

Climate action Steele-John is a strong proponent of urgent climate action. In 2018, he introduced a Senate motion to condemn the lifting of the Western Australian fracking moratorium, which was unsuccessful.

Peace In 2020, Steele-John introduced the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service) Bill 2020, which seeks to ensure the decision to go to war is made by the Parliament, not the Prime Minister.

Video games In February 2018, Steele-John expressed disappointment at the lack of government support for the Australian video game development industry.

Voting age In 2018, Steele-John introduced a bill to lower the voting age to sixteen. He argued that age would be in line with Austria, Argentina, Brazil and Scotland. The bill was not passed by parliament.

Honours and awards

McKinnon Prize Emerging Political Leadership