CFMMEU boss John Setka charged over a Boxing Day row with wife Emma Walters
Militant union boss John Setka has been charged after an ugly Boxing Day row with his lawyer wife Emma Walters at his home. Police were called to the couple’s home in Melbourne’s west after emergency services were alerted.
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EXCLUSIVE: Militant union boss John Setka has been charged after an ugly Boxing Day row with his lawyer wife Emma Walters at his home.
Mr Setka, the Victorian head of the powerful Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, is due to face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court next week.
Police were called to the couple’s home, which is in Melbourne’s west, after emergency services were alerted.
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Leonie Johnson, a Victoria Police spokeswoman, said: “Police attended a West Footscray address following reports of an argument on Boxing Day.
“A 54-year-old man was arrested and charged with a court order offence. He was bailed and will appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on January 9.”
The case is being handled by Victoria Police’s Westgate Family Violence Investigation Unit.
It is understood that Mr Setka is currently on extended personal leave from the union.
His relationship with Ms Walters, an industrial lawyer who was once mooted for a Labor Party seat in the Upper House, had recently broken down, sources said.
Mr Setka, in a statement on Wednesday night, said: “For well over 30 years now I have dedicated my life to the health and wellbeing of construction workers and their families and, on more occasions than I care to remember, my passion and bluntness has landed me in the headlines and not for the right reasons.
“Over the last three years my wife Emma and my children David, Kate and Johnny have suffered immensely from the ongoing political and ideological attacks on myself as a union leader, with the possibility of losing their husband and father to a prison sentence.
“This has been an extremently enormous strain on our family unit and it has taken its toll on each of us as individuals.
“I ask that while family members are seeking to recover from this tumultuous period in their personal lives that they are given the privacy to do so.”
Statement in relation to media report. pic.twitter.com/y3juHQ7x2V
— John Setka (@CFMEUJohnSetka) January 2, 2019
Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer slammed Mr Setka for blaming the incident on the Coalition Government.
Ms O’Dwyer, who is also the Minister for Women, called on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to disassociate himself from Mr Setka.
“Violence must never be condoned and there is never any excuse for violence, and it is a disgraceful thing to do to try explain your (alleged) actions and blame it on other people,” Ms O’Dwyer said.
“The idea that John Setka would seek to blame his (alleged) actions on the Federal Government or Minister for Industrial Relations is outrageous.
“Violence can never be tolerated, whether it’s in the workplace or home we know this time of year is stressful for families which is why the government pushed so hard to get its domestic violence leave through the parliament.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Shorten said the Opposition leader’s office did not comment on matters before the courts.
The matter could have major ramifications for the Labor Party, federal leader Bill Shorten, and the union, which has been a strong supporter of Mr Shorten and is expected to make huge donations to the ALP’s federal election war chest this year.
In October, Mr Setka provoked anger by posting the Martin Luther King Jr quote “Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal” in an attack on the federal government’s building code.
A month earlier, he apologised for posting a picture of his children holding a sign saying, “Go get f*#*ed’’, with the caption: “Leave our dads alone and go catch the real criminals you cowards”.
The controversy sparked a tense debate.
PM Scott Morrison threatened to deregister the union.
Mr Setka deleted the post, saying he had been emotional on Father’s Day after a tough year on his family.
At a major protest rally in June 2017, Mr Setka also controversially warned that the union would pursue Australian Building Construction Commission inspectors so their “kids will be ashamed of who their parents are”.
“When we come after you, you better be careful,” he said.
“We will lobby their neighbourhoods, we will tell them who lives in that house.
“They will not be able to show their face anywhere, their kids will be ashamed of who their parents are when we expose all these ABCC inspectors.”
Ms Walters defended her husband in an interview with the Herald Sun in May, saying: “He is a unionist but he is also a family man. He just wants to be with his wife and children.
“He is a good man.’’
The pair met when Ms Walters was also working at the union.
The couple married five years ago, on Mr Setka’s 50th birthday.