A woman has been charged with stalking and attempting to extort Greens senator Jordon Steele-John.
WA Police will allege the 40-year-old woman is a former partner of the prominent politician.
She is due to appear in Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday after being charged on Wednesday.
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The Perth woman faces one count each of aggravated stalking with intent to intimidate and demanding property by written threats, police confirmed to The West Australian.
A WA Police spokeswoman said detectives from the Family Violence Investigation Squad were handling the case.
The charges come as the WA senator remains on leave from the Greens party room and will not attend Federal Parliament after misconduct allegations emerged last month.
Claims about the party’s disability spokesman’s “behaviour in the presence of women” over more than a decade were thrust into the public spotlight after several past and present members wrote to Greens leadership.
A Nine report revealing the letter was followed by the emergence of a secret 47-page crisis communications manual, which catalogued allegations against Senator Steele-John and outlined ways to shut down media coverage.
Senator Steele-John then posted an extraordinary 2400-word statement on social media denying the claims and defending himself.
Greens leader David Shoebridge has denied knowing about either the letter or the document, with his office insisting it was “not a document made by, used by, or seen by the Leader’s Office”.
Senator Shoebridge said the WA Greens branch would oversee an investigation into the allegations.
Terms of reference released on Tuesday said the independent inquiry would take six weeks to deliver an interim report and eight weeks to deliver its final report.
The party noted the timetable would run from the formal execution of the engagement contract and was not prescriptive, with potential delays depending on participant availability and other factors.
