Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite has been peppered with questions on Labor’s strong ties to the CFMEU after Victorian branch boss John Setka rebuffed calls to back off on his attacks on the AFL.
Mr Setka threatened to withhold cooperation on any AFL-related projects unless it fired umpire boss Stephen McBurney.
In his previous role as Australian Building and Construction Commissioner, Mr McBurney initiated legal action which resulted in millions of dollars of fines against the militant union.
Speaking with Sky News Australia on Friday, Mr Thistlethwaite led with usual party line when probed about whether he would be comfortable should Labor continue to take donations from the infamous union.
“Well Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, kicked John out of the Labor Party,” he said, adding that “it’s a matter for the AFL”.
“But we’ve been very strong and very clear, that someone like John should not be a part of the Labor Party and he was booted out a number of years ago.”
Labor has documented ties with the CFMEU, with the militant union donating $4.3 million to the party ahead of the 2022 Federal Election, which included $2.6 million in direct donations including for campaign advertising and $1.7 million through other means such as memberships and services, AEC disclosures showed.
Shortly after the election, the new Albanese government abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission which had handed out at least $15 million in fines against the CFMEU.
Coalition MPs have been persistent in demanding the Australian government, namely the Prime Minister, condemn Mr Setka’s behaviour, which includes publishing posters with Mr McBurney’s face on them alongside the slogan “Not Wanted: Dead or Alive”.
However, Mr Thistlethwaite would not confirm whether the ALP would cease taking donations from the CMFEU, given Mr Setka’s personal agenda and threatening remarks against Mr McBurney.
He was asked on multiple occasions why Labor wouldn’t simply “stop taking donations” if Mr Setka and the union followed through with their threats.
“You’d be comfortable still with donations with the various affiliations with the CFMEU right across the country,” Sky News host Tom Connell asked.
But the minister deferred responsibility to the party’s administrative wing.
“All of the donations to the Labor Party are a matter for the party itself,” he said.
“They’re all declared in accordance with the regulations and the rules -but they’re a matter for the party wing. Not for the politicians.”
Mr Thistlethwaite said, should it wish to resolve the “dispute”, the AFL can go to the Fair Work Commission, which “runs independent of government”.
“The industrial relations system runs independent of government here in Australia and when you have disputes of this nature, there are mechanisms in the Fair Work Commission to resolve them.
“If this dispute can’t be resolved, then either of those parties is available to go to the Fair Work Commission and seek conciliation and arbitration to settle the dispute.
“Ultimately, this decision is for the AFL, and that’s a dispute between a union and an employer.”
Earlier this week, shadow workplace relations minister Michaelia Cash blasted Anthony Albanese, labelling him a “weak and insipid” Prime Minister who failed to condemn the “thuggery and the intimidation” tactics because of the Labor Party’s close links with the union.
“What a weak and insipid Prime Minister that he cannot condemn the bullying, the thuggery and the intimidation of John Setka in relation to Mr McBurney and the threats made against the AFL,” Ms Cash told Sky News Australia on Wednesday.
Speaking to whether the Prime Minister would stand up and condemn the behaviours, Ms Cash said: “I’m going to put money on the fact that the answer’s, ‘no’ to the tune of $4.3 million, that Mr Albanese happily took in the lead up to the last election, from low and behold, the CFMEU.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would be “common sense” for Setka to back off the AFL – which is as far as he has been willing to go when asked to condemn the militant union boss’ unhinged behaviour.
“John Setka is someone who I expelled from the Labor party,” the Prime Minister said on Friday – before telling a reporter she was “encouraging him” by asking questions about him “given his character”.
“I think it’s up to the AFL who the AFL have in positions, and not up to anyone but the AFL”.