John Setka resigns from ALP, says takeover bid for CFMEU SA branch are “absolute lies”
Besieged union boss John Setka has rejected claims that his powerful Victorian branch is seeking to take control of South Australian operations.
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Besieged construction union boss John Setka has rejected claims that his powerful Victorian branch is seeking to take control of South Australian operations.
Mr Setka, in Adelaide for the CFMEU’s five-day national conference, said today it was “completely false” when asked if union delegates will consider a motion for the Victorian branch to run the union’s SA branch.
“Absolute lies and whoever is saying that is just lying,” he said, speaking after a CFMEU rally in the city demanding tougher workplace safety laws.
“We’re just here to support the families who have lost loved ones at work and that’s one of our jobs is to preserve life and that’s what we’re doing.”
His comments came less than two hours before federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese announced the party had removed Mr Setka after he withdrew an appeal against his expulsion.
Mr Setka has been convicted of harassing his wife and was accused of criticising anti-domestic violence advocate Rosie Batty.
Mr Albanese said Mr Setka’s removal was a “good outcome” for his party.
“It’s important that we demonstrate that Labor’s values as a party are greater than any one individual, and that we are prepared to stand up for those values,” Mr Albanese said.
In a statement, Mr Setka said he had not been expelled but resigned as a Labor member of 15 years in a “personal decision”.
“Mr Albanese is selling out Australian workers and turning his back on the values that underpin both the party and the union movement,” he said.
“Under his leadership, the Labor Party has lost its spine. Worse still, it is in danger of losing its soul.”
The union’s Victorian branch was behind a series of unlawful workplace incursions across SA worksites in 2013 and 2014 that cost the SA branch millions of dollars in fines and resulted in organisers losing right of entry permits.
Mr Setka’s contempt of the SA branch and former leader Aaron Cartledge was revealed in an email sent to union powerbrokers in 2017, describing the SA office as “weak c***s” and “bludging f***ers” for allowing members to remain at work during the holidays.
The email was sent 10 months before a committee of national union executives took over control of the SA branch leading to the resignation of former state secretary Aaron Cartledge.
The Victorian branch already runs the Tasmanian arm of the CFMEU and several Setka supporters have been parachuted into roles in SA, including acting branch secretary Andy Sutherland, who is from Queensland.
CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan said there was no bid by Victoria to take over the SA branch.
The future management of the SA branch is expected to be discussed at the union’s conference which runs until Friday at the Stamford Grand.
Mr Noonan, Mr Setka and union officials from across Australia marched from Victoria Square to Parliament House alongside families demanding justice for those killed on construction sites.
Among them were Pam Gurner-Hall whose partner Jorge Castillo-Riffo was fatally injured during construction of the RAH and the mother of Christopher Cassaniti, 18, who was killed when scaffolding collapsed on a Sydney building site..
They want the SA government to adopt industrial manslaughter laws, which would provide a criminal offence for negligent conduct by an employer or director of an employer that causes a workers’ death.
Industrial Relations minister Rob Lucas said the laws had been opposed by the Labor Party and are not supported by the government.
He said existing laws allow for manslaughter charges in cases of an employer’s negligence.
-with AAP