Albo has a Setka dilemma on his hands

Of course union boss John Setka is an embarrassment that opposition leader Anthony Albanese wants gone, writes Peta Credlin. But by not finishing him off, Albo illustrates his own impotence.

When a party leader calls for a party member to resign, and the member fails to do so, it’s not the member who’s in big trouble but the leader.

Of course, the Victorian CFMMEU boss John Setka is an embarrassment that opposition leader Anthony Albanese wants gone.

But it should not have been his recent private disparagement of anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty that triggered calls for Setka’s resignation.

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He should have gone long ago because of his consistent support for standover tactics in the construction industry.

By not finishing off John Setka, Anthony Albanese illustrates his own impotence. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

And the Labor Party should have disowned the construction division of the union long ago because of its record of intimidation and lawlessness.

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There are more than 70 CFMMEU officials and members facing court. In the past few years, the union has been fined over $16 million for persistent law breaking.

Yet it’s only now that the Labor leader has called time — and only on Setka and not on the union itself, which is one of the Labor’s biggest funders.

CFMMEU secretary John Setka at the ACTU building in Melbourne. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett

Of course, now that he’s started this fight, Anthony Albanese simply can’t afford to lose.

But as a union leader who’s thumbed his nose at other unions, businesses and law enforcement agencies, Setka is hardly likely to be stared down by a politician, by journalists, or even by the ACTU president.

Moral persuasion just won’t work against someone like Setka.

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All that can bring him down is a vote of his members or the judgment of a court; and, so far, multiple adverse judgments have only made his union poorer.

By taking Setka on without the capacity to finish him off, Albanese has highlighted both the unions’ stranglehold on the ALP and his own impotence.

If Setka isn’t gone within the next few days, Albanese’s leadership will have been crippled almost as it began.

Peta Credlin is a columnist and Sky News presenter.