The Greens have discovered natural justice. Apparently it was hiding underneath their stack of media releases demanding accountability from everybody else.

With Senator Jordon Steele-John facing allegations about his conduct towards women, suddenly the vocabulary is wonderfully careful: procedural fairness, independent investigation, proper process.

All entirely appropriate by the way. Steele-John denies wrongdoing and deserves a fair hearing. He says police investigated one sexual assault allegation and laid no charges. None of this establishes his guilt, clearly.

But it does provide a useful opportunity to examine the Greens’ spectacularly selective appetite for restraint.

Remember Christian Porter?

In June 2021, Larissa Waters declared Australians could not have confidence in the government while a minister remained in Cabinet with a rape allegation hanging over him. Porter denied the allegation. Yet the allegation itself was sufficient for Waters to pronounce no confidence in the entire government.

Senator Jordon Steele-John (pictured) denied any wrongdoing  and rejected the allegations about his conduct towards women

Now Greens leader David Shoebridge declines a ‘running commentary’ while an independent process examines concerns about his colleague. How convenient that political restraint becomes such a prized virtue when the microphone is pointed at your own party.

To be fair, the Greens demanded an independent inquiry into Porter, too. Although the allegations against him were historical dating back more than 30 years. 

The hypocrisy lies in the accompanying political prosecution: opponents must answer immediately for everything an allegation supposedly reveals about their character, leadership and party culture. Their own side gets careful qualifications.

Consider the public relations question.

In March 2021, Waters accused Scott Morrison of treating sexual violence and misogyny as ‘another PR problem to be managed away’. A Cabinet reshuffle, she argued, would merely shuffle the problem around.

Now we learn the WA Greens maintained a crisis communications document about concerns involving Steele-John. According to reports the document ran to 47 pages and included instructions for managing coverage and monitoring party members’ social media discussions.

That is quite a commitment to managing communications from a party so disgusted by other people managing communications.

The WA Greens say the historical allegations were unsubstantiated and the named people never lodged formal complaints. Shoebridge says he had no prior knowledge of the document.

Greens leader Larissa Waters (pictured) has previously pronounced a no confidence in the entire government over a rape allegation however has a different approach to allegations thrown at a fellow party member 

What was examined? By whom? Why was a communications plan required? What would Waters have said had this document belonged to the Liberals?

Steele-John is entitled to defend himself. Complainants are entitled to have concerns properly examined. Fairness requires both.

But the Greens can’t spend years turning other parties’ scandals into sermons about their own moral superiority, then complain when somebody checks beneath the pulpit.

What happened to the ‘all victims should be believed’ principle?

Natural justice is a principle. The Greens keep treating it like a membership benefit you only get if you join their political party.