Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing calls to condemn a powerful Victorian union official who is demanding the AFL sack its head of umpiring.
Controversial CFMEU Victorian Secretary John Setka has threatened to withhold cooperation on any AFL-related projects unless it fires Stephen McBurney, who in his previous role as Australian Building and Construction Commissioner, initiated legal action which resulted in millions of dollars of fines against the militant union.
Mr Setka told The Australian his union had an “obligation to pursue anti-union, anti-worker f**kers” and they would pursue Mr McBurney “until the end of the earth”.
“We will use every resource we have to pursue him,” Mr Setka said.
He also extraordinarily claimed people like Mr McBurney did not get to “cost the union millions of dollars” and just “walk away into the f**king sunset”.
“We go after our enemies and he was our No. 1 enemy.”
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton condemned Mr Setka’s “utterly unacceptable” threats on Wednesday, before demanding the Prime Minister do the same.
“It’s very disturbing in our country when you see the bullying of anyone, but what we’re seeing at the moment is unprecedented,” Mr Dutton said at a press conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
“You’ve got the union in the CFMEU and John Setka – who’s very well known to the courts, very well known in the building industry as a thug, frankly – we’ve now got him standing over the AFL.”
Highlighting the $4.3 million the CFMEU devoted to Labor’s last federal election campaign, Mr Dutton questioned why Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had not also condemned the “bullyboy” tactics.
“Has the Prime Minister condemned this conduct? It’s completely and utterly unacceptable,” he said.
“Intimidation has no place in the workplace, and yet you’ve got a union leader who gives four and a half million dollars a year to the Labor Party through the CFMEU, and the Prime Minister, of course, has nothing to say about it.
“The CFMEU is out of control here in New South Wales, in Victoria, in Queensland … and we’ve got a Prime Minister so weak that he can’t stand up to a union bullyboy.
“I think all it demonstrates is how weak and inept the Prime Minister is and I think most Australians are starting to see that now as well.”
Asked on Wednesday whether he thought it was appropriate for Mr Setka to threaten the AFL, Mr Albanese pointed out he expelled the controversial union official from the Labor Party back in 2019.
“Oh look, I removed John Setka from the Labor Party, many years ago, as one of my first acts as leader,” the Prime Minister said.
The AFL has stood by Mr McBurney, releasing a statement praising their head of umpiring.
“Steve McBurney umpired 401 games, including four AFL grand finals, he has been a long-time mentor to umpires at every level and has done an outstanding job since returning to the AFL to take up the role of Head of Officiating,” the AFL said in a statement.
But Mr Setka warned the AFL it’s decision would cost them.
“This is going to cost the AFL a lot of f**king money. I hope it’s worth it. Projects without our full cooperation are going to be a f**king misery for them,” he said.
The CFMEU official said while the union would not take strike action, it would refuse to cooperate to help ensure projects were delivered on time.
“God help them if their schedule is ever out of f**king whack because we will not be bending over backwards to do a f**king thing to help them. It’s going to be a hard slog for them,” Mr Setka said.
“They will regret the day they ever employed him.”
According to the AFL, the projects likely to be affected were local facilities “designed to provide better training venues for AFL and AFLW players, gender friendly facilities and change rooms at community football clubs and to create a more welcoming footy environment for families who make up many of the 1.2 million club members and the many more millions of fans who attend games”.
“We are hopeful any intended action does not impact players, supporters or the wider community who benefit from upgrades to local clubrooms and our stadiums,” the league said in a statement.