A former building and construction watchdog has called on the Labor government to hand back millions in political donations from the CFMEU following damning allegations about criminal conduct within the union’s Victorian-Tasmanian branch.
Former Victorian-Tasmanian CFMEU secretary John Setka announced his resignation on Friday night amid “ongoing and relentless stories written with multiple allegations”.
What soon followed were allegations that bikies had infiltrated the CFMEU alongside reports of bullying and criminal behaviour within the union, leading to its national office putting the state branch into voluntary administration.
The union’s link to Labor – donating $6.2 million to the party since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese became leader in 2019 – caught the spotlight on Monday evening with Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) John Lloyd demanding Labor hand back donations from the CFMEU.
Sky News’ Andrew Bolt asked the former ABBC boss whether Labor should stop accepting donations from the union, given the allegations against it. Mr Lloyd replied that it would “certainly be worthwhile” before calling on the party to go further.
“They should do that, and not just do that but perhaps consider handing back some of the donations received in recent elections,” he said.
The former ABCC head decried the actions of Labor, arguing its financial ties to the controversial union were “wrong and intolerable”.
“Year after year, this conduct is undertaken and… the union gives the funds and the Labor Party happily accepts them,” he said.
Damning revelations about the militant union spurred an outcry from shadow industrial relations minister Michaelia Cash who questioned Labor’s move to abolish the ABCC and reallocate its work to the Fair Work Ombudsman after coming into office in 2022.
Between 2016 and the commission being dissolved in 2022, the ABCC hit the CFMEU with $16.1m in penalties with many cases involving union officials physically and verbally threatening workers, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Ms Cash told Sky News’ Peta Credlin the Coalition had warned Labor of ramifications from the removal of the watchdog.
“We made it very clear to Labor, if you abolish the ABCC it is going to be disastrous for the construction industry,” she said.
“But guess what, Peta? $6.2 million is the sum over the last four years… since Anthony Albanese became the opposition leader, that has been given from the CFMEU straight to the Australian Labor Party office.
“It’s little wonder that, despite the warnings from the industry, despite the warnings from the Coalition, that Mr Albanese, his first act on becoming Prime Minister, was to give to Mr Setka the construction industry and they abolished the Australian Building and Construction Commission.”
Ms Cash continued to demand Labor re-establish the commission as she was sick of hearing “cheap” words from the Prime Minister.
“I have a challenge, though, for the Prime Minister, Peta,” she said.
“The Coalition stands ready on the first day back in August to pass the legislation to restore, in full – no excuses by the Prime Minister or (Workplace Relations Minister) Mr Burke – the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
“At the moment, Peta, all we are seeing from Labor (and) from our weak Prime Minister are words. Well, their words are cheap. Let’s judge them on their actions.”
Following Mr Setka’s resignation on Friday evening, Mr Albanese told the press it was “good” the controversial union boss had left.
“Trade unionists exist to look after workers, to look after their wages and conditions, and health and safety,” he said on Saturday.
“They don’t exist to engage in the sort of conduct that John Setka has clearly been engaged with.
“It should be condemned, it should be isolated, it should be stamped out.”
Mr Setka was fired from Labor by Mr Albanese over accusations he said domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty’s activism led to men having fewer rights – which he denied and fought in court until being convicted of harassing his estranged wife.
“John Sekta is someone who, it was clear to me, had no place in a party that I lead, which is why I took the action that I did,” he said.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan labelled the accusations against Mr Setka and the CFMEU as “appalling” as she outlined a range of measures to weed out a “rotten culture” from the union.
“I have absolutely zero tolerance for this sort of bullying, thuggish, appalling, rotten behaviour,” Ms Allan told reporters.
“And I will work with the federal government to take all the necessary steps to continue to ensure workplaces across Victoria are safe and productive and are free from this sort of behaviour.”
Ms Allan said she had written to both Victoria Police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission urging them to probe the allegations.
Mr Setka’s resignation came after he vowed to withhold cooperation on any AFL-related projects unless it fired umpire boss Stephen McBurney.
Mr McBurney was also previously the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner where he brought legal action against the union, resulting in millions of dollars of fines against the CMFEU.
In June, the former union boss told The Australian the CFMEU had an “obligation to pursue anti-union, anti-worker f**kers” and that they would pursue Mr McBurney “until the end of the earth”.