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Australian Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John claims one of the disability royal commissioners tried to intimidate him after the public servant asked him to stop making “defamatory comments”.
The testy exchange comes as submissions opened for the landmark inquiry into violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation against people with disability.
John Ryan – a former NSW politician turned public servant – is one of two commissioners Senator Steele-John has been urging to stand down over potential conflicts of interest.
In an email sent on Friday, Mr Ryan said he wanted to draw the senator’s attention to “defamatory statements” made about him in an interview on Sky News.
The commissioner said it wasn’t the case, as the Senator had stated, that two particular women died after participating in a program he administered.
“You made these claims a day after comparing me in the Senate to the infamous Ballarat pedophile ring and suggested that I was a perpetrator of violence and abuse against people with disability,” Mr Ryan wrote.
“I would have considerable grounds to take legal action against you for the comments published on TV and republished by you on social media.”
Mr Ryan said he wouldn’t be taking legal action as he had “more important work to perform”.
“I simply ask that you stop making defamatory comments about me.”
In a later email, Mr Ryan took issue with one of the senator’s tweets.
“Clearly you aren’t interested in conducting this conversation graciously,” he said.
In a reply to both responses, Senator Steele-John acknowledged he had named the wrong people during his interview on Sky.
“My intention was to name the two individuals who died after being part of a program to move people out of the Stockton Centre and into residential care, under a program directly overseen by you,” he said.
But the senator also took issue with the commissioner’s “inappropriate” approach, saying it contained clear traces of intimidation.
“It’s absolutely stunning,” Senator Steele-John told AAP on Tuesday.
“If this is characteristic of his interaction with me, god help the rest of the people he’s going to be dealing with.”
The Western Australian senator last week won majority support for a non-binding motion calling for the federal government to replace Mr Ryan and Ms Bennett.
Labor, Centre Alliance and One Nation supported the motion, carrying it 34 votes to 30.
Senator Steele-John said he was told by the government his motion would be listed for debate in the lower house on Tuesday, but that had not occurred.
“They are playing silly buggers, which is not good at all,” he told AAP.
“This cannot continue, the submissions have just opened today … it’s basically a commission in chaos.”
Australian Associated Press
