2025-10-21
By Jordon Steele-John
Senator for Western Australia
This past year has been one of the most significant of my time as your Greens Senator for Western Australia.
An election year is always full of joyful highs and tough challenges. Together, we powered through a massive few months of campaigning, and I am especially grateful to every single person who volunteered, donated, or helped spread the word. I am deeply humbled to have been re-elected to continue representing WA and our Greens movement in the Australian Senate. Thank you for placing your trust in me. I am determined to keep being a strong voice for justice, compassion, and a better future for all of us.
Of course, this year has also brought sadness, as we farewelled much-loved lower house MPs Adam, Max, and Stephen. The major party vote was simply too strong, and Liberal preferences unseated some of our representatives. Each of them brought so much to our party room and to our movement, and I know they will continue to play pivotal roles in the years ahead.
As the Greens’ spokesperson for Disability Rights and Inclusion, I’ve continued to fight for an NDIS grounded in the lived experience of disabled people. While the major parties continue to work together to cut people out of the NDIS, I am proud that our Greens movement is firmly with the disability community. Support must be there when people need it, without discrimination or delay. Having been a disability campaigner since I was a teenager, it’s not lost on me that this year has been particularly brutal for our community. Labor’s changes to the NDIS have put people in harm’s way, while progress on implementing the recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission has been slow. Disabled people remain exposed to discrimination, abuse, and neglect across healthcare, housing, education, transport, and more.
I am incredibly proud of the work we have done to support ADHDers across the country. Not long ago, ADHD was barely mentioned in Parliament. Now we are seeing real momentum. The Greens’ Senate Inquiry into ADHD Supports and Services laid the groundwork, and this year we have seen significant progress on its recommendations, including steps to make diagnosis easier and supports more consistent nationwide.
At the last election, our movement campaigned on a bold progressive health platform, including free access to GPs and getting dental into Medicare. These are big reforms that would mean no one has to put off seeing a doctor or dentist because of the cost. While Labor has been pressured into taking some steps to reduce GP costs, they have made no progress on improving access to dental care. We will keep pushing until Medicare considers your mouth part of your body.
This year I also spoke out strongly for peace and justice in Palestine. As the Greens spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Peace for most of the year, I am proud of our party’s progressive, consistent, vocal stance. We have called on the government to end its complicity in the genocide in Gaza and to take action that is firmly within its control. That includes stopping the two-way arms trade with Israel and applying targeted sanctions. To everyone who has marched, rallied, and kept this issue in the public eye, thank you. You have shown that the Australian people see the government’s inaction for what it is - a moral failure.
The fight for climate justice remains urgent. Here in WA, we are working to protect our precious places from mining and gas corporations that put profits ahead of people and the planet. This year our community came together on many climate fronts, from defending old-growth forests and protecting our water supply from Alcoa’s mine expansion to standing against Woodside’s plans to destroy Scott Reef. This work is ongoing, and we will continue it every single day.
Finally, I want to finish up with an acknowledgement of the states and territories that have powered through multiple elections recently. Congratulations on making it here, it is no small feat! Here in WA, we had back-to-back state and federal elections, and we sure did rise to the challenge. It was a great result as we grew our numbers in the WA State Parliament to four with the election of Brad Pettitt, Sophie McNeill, Jess Beckerling, and Tim Clifford.
None of this work is possible without our movement, our volunteers, members, supporters and my staff team who give their energy, skills, and hope to building a better world. Together, we are proving that politics can be about courage, compassion, and justice.
As we head into the next chapter of the 48th Parliament, I am more determined than ever to keep fighting for the hopeful future we know is possible. Let’s keep going, and please keep in touch.
- Jordon