Rita Panahi: Weak Labor fails to denounce union bully boys running riot

Union thugs are exerting such power that both state and federal Labor, who are beneficiaries of tens of millions in donations from the union movement, are reluctant to condemn behaviour that crosses the lines from lawful and robust to outright blackmail.

The bully boys of the militant union movement are running riot in this town. Even outlaw bikie gangs and mafia types are a little more subtle in their standover tactics; they certainly don’t announce to the media, with on-the-record statements, what they will do to punish those who do not submit to their outrageous demands.

Bold as brass, militant unionists are openly threatening individuals, companies and the country’s biggest sporting organisation.

They are proving once again why the Australian Building and Construction Commission, abolished by the Anthony Albanese government, was necessary.

If the AFL hierarchy thought their relentless Leftist activism would save them from the likes of the Victorian boss of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime and Energy Union John Setka then they were sadly mistaken. His threats against the league and its head of umpiring, Stephen McBurney, go beyond bullying and intimidation.

If the AFL hierarchy thought their Leftist activism would save them from the likes of the Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka they were sadly mistaken. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

What the powerful CFMEU did this week, with the full support of the Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the plumbers union was tantamount to extortion.

The unionists want McBurney banished not just from the AFL but from any meaningful employment because he previously served as an ABCC commissioner who initiated legal proceedings against the CFMEU.

Put to one side that what Setka is threatening to inflict on the AFL seems unlawful, and consider how brazen and emboldened these characters have become under Labor that they would openly threaten major projects including the proposed stadium in Hobart. “This is going to cost the AFL a lot of f---ing money. I hope it’s worth it. Projects without our full cooperation are going to be a f---ing misery for them,” Setka said.

“They will regret the day they ever employed him.”

Setka’s threats against the league and its head of umpiring, Stephen McBurney, go beyond bullying and intimidation.

He also said this of his pursuit of McBurney: “They just don’t walk away from a role like that, cost the union millions of dollars and just think they can walk away into the
f---king sunset. It doesn’t work that way. This is the real world, we go after our enemies and he was our No. 1 enemy and we will pursue him until the ends of the earth.”

These union thugs exert such power that both state and federal Labor, who are beneficiaries of tens of millions in donations from the union movement, are reluctant to condemn behaviour that crosses the lines from lawful and robust to outright blackmail.

Federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister and former unionist Tony Burke gave Setka the sort of gentle rebuke you’d reserve for a misbehaving toddler. Martin Ollman

It’s worth noting that Premier Jacinta Allan who weeks ago appointed MP Tim Richardson as the inaugural Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Behaviour Change has failed to denounce Setka’s antics.

The fact that Setka is even in this powerful role, after pleading guilty to charges of harassing a woman and breaching court orders, is notable in itself.

Labor loves to virtue signal about the treatment of women but they fail to act when faced with real examples of “toxic masculinity” from within their own ranks.

If Labor were serious about denouncing reprehensible behaviour they would decline to take the CFMEU’s tainted millions.

On Friday federal Employment and Workplace Relations Minister and former unionist Tony Burke gave Setka the sort of gentle rebuke you’d reserve for a misbehaving toddler.

“As a rule of thumb, if you want to win over the Australian people, don’t start attacking the AFL,” said Burke while guffawing as if the whole saga was a giant joke.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari, a former adviser and confidant of Dan Andrews, made it clear who calls the shots in this town. Picture: David Geraghty

When asked if the CFMEU had gone too far Burke refused to give a straight answer and then described the ABCC as “rotten,” thereby giving tacit approval to Setka’s campaign.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari, a former adviser and confidant of Dan Andrews, made it clear who calls the shots in this town.

Referring to Setka’s threats against the AFL, Hilakari said the league should be aware that projects don’t always go to plan.

“There is a potential large risk for the AFL when they want to do large projects and projects don’t always go to plan … I’m sure corporates would love our co-operation 100 per cent of the time but co-operation is a two-way street.”

There you have it. Do as we demand or else. About as subtle as a sledgehammer.

Expect more of the same with former unionists dominating Labor ranks both in the Victorian and federal government.

In short

Further proof that the Albanese government is run by stupidly woke activists for stupidly woke activists with revelations that millions of taxpayer funds have been granted, for a cervical cancer campaign, to an organisation accused of “erasing women” from its messaging to appease trans activists.

ACON, previously known as the AIDS Council of NSW, uses terms such as “people with a cervix” to describe women and “front hole” instead of vagina. I wish I was kidding.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist