‘Working man’s sport’: John Setka defends push to remove AFL umpiring chief
Disgraced former CFMEU boss John Setka has denied trying to coerce the AFL into sacking umpiring chief Steve McBurney, saying he was justified in his criticism because McBurney acted with anti-union “zealotry” and should not be overseeing a “working man’s sport”.
Setka made the comments in his defence to legal action taken against him by the Fair Work Ombudsman over his extraordinary spray against McBurney, former boss of the Australian Building and Construction Commission, in news articles and radio appearances in 2024.
Former CFMEU Victorian secretary John Setka. Credit: Instagram
The FWO alleges Setka took adverse action against McBurney over decisions he made as head of the ABCC, including initiating or participating in more than 50 court actions against the union between 2018 and 2023, when he was leading the commission.
It also alleges Setka threatened the AFL that CFMEU members would work to rule at any worksite related to an AFL building project as part of his efforts to coerce the AFL to dump McBurney.
The legal action could lead to large fines reaching into the hundreds of thousands of dollars against Setka and the CFMEU. Until last week, Setka had failed to file any defence to the FWO claim, telling the Federal Court he was unable to attend to the matter due to poor health.
Along with his long-awaited defence to the FWO claim, Setka has also filed a counterclaim against the CFMEU, alleging he was acting within his remit as the head of the Victorian arm of the union at the time and that the union’s administrator had refused to pay for his legal fees.
Setka stood down from his union role in July 2024 days ahead of an investigation led by this masthead, Building Bad, which revealed serious ongoing misconduct within the union and links to organised crime figures.
He has long claimed he was unfairly targeted in the investigation. The media investigation led to an administrator being appointed to the union to weed out rogue elements.
The former construction boss doubled down on his comments in defence of the claim. He said he was justified in his comments and that, taken as a whole, they show he explicitly said he was not trying to influence the AFL’s employment processes.
He added that he made the comments while he was acting in the “pursuit of the CFMEU’s objective of better working and living conditions for CFMEU members”.
Stephen McBurney pictured in 2018, during his time as head of the powerful Australian Building and Construction Commission.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Setka believed that the manner in which McBurney had discharged his duties and exercised his statutory powers as the [ABCC] Commissioner had offended that objective by acting with zealotry in respect of his anti-unionism by attempts to intimidate CFMEU members and CFMEU members’ families.”
To support that claim, Setka pointed to comments he made to the Herald Sun in June 2024 about McBurney: “If one of our members sat in the shed in a workplace health and safety dispute … they get a call from the f--king ABCC, and they roll up to their f--king house to intimidate their wives and children.”
Setka’s offence at ABCC officers making home visits stands in contrast with his own activities.
In 2024, this masthead obtained CCTV footage showing him dumping a suitcase scrawled with the word “dog” at the home of a fellow senior union official during a nighttime visit.
Setka has also denied the FWO’s allegations that he sought to break workplace laws by encouraging CFMEU members to work to rule on AFL sites, thus slowing down projects, saying he made it clear in his comments that he could not enforce any such rule.
His defence notes that work-to-rule is a type of industrial action that can only be taken by members if they successfully vote for it, after which it would be considered legal conduct.
He also alleges there is no evidence of delays or problems at AFL building projects.
The former union boss also plans to rely on messages from a WhatsApp group of the AFL’s media team and other executives – including then head of umpiring Laura Kane – he says shows the AFL did not take his threats seriously and viewed them as a publicity stunt because the AFL had no current projects that involved CFMEU workers.
In one message from the chat reproduced in Setka’s defence documents, AFL head of media Brian Walsh tells the group: “Reality is we have nothing at the moment I don’t think. Is a PR play which has [sic] perfectly to remind of their power?”
An unidentified member of the group chat responded: “Can we have a chat about whether we put anything out. Will defer to your judgement on these matters but is there also a play of ignoring her [sic] that could suck the life out of the story? I might be being naive.”
Setka’s defence argues the AFL had prepared a statement affirming its commitment to McBurney’s employment on June 12 amid Setka’s flurry of media appearances in which he made the allegedly offensive comments.
The CFMEU administration declined to comment on Setka’s counter claim as the matter was before the court.
The parties in the FWO case have now agreed to a timetable to file various documents to the court and have agreed to attend mediation in early November. The matter will return to court in the second half of November.
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