'Big deal': John Setka plays down his conviction for harassment

Controversial construction union leader John Setka has played down his recent criminal conviction for harassing his wife and breaching court orders, dismissing his behaviour as a “few bad text messages” between a husband and his wife.

The leaked tape of a meeting of several hundred shop stewards last Thursday reveals the CFMMEU leader saying of his criminal harassment charges: “We had a bit of a swearing thing between us”.

CFMEU boss John Setka at the Melbourne Magistrates Court in June with his wife Emma Walters by his side. Credit: Jason South

“Regardless of how much they pumped it up, all it was a few bad text messages and a bit of bad language between each other.

“I mean, big deal.”

Mr Setka was originally charged with more than 30 offences - including assault - but that was reduced to two offences of breaching court orders and harassing his wife, Emma Walters, after he agreed to plead guilty. Both he and Ms Walters have since insisted there was no violence in the home.

Listen to the leaked audio

He was sentenced for those offences in June. But since his guilty plea, senior union sources speaking on condition of anonymity say Mr Setka has regularly been dismissive in private of the charges and his conviction.

His taped comments at the meeting last week contradict the strong contrition he expressed outside the court in June, where he agreed that he had "screwed up” and “it’s up to me to fix it”.

Mr Setka said on the court steps: “It’s not OK for us to speak to each other like that. There’s never been any physical violence in our relationship but we’re coming to terms with the fact that words can be just as hurtful".

The comment also diminishes remarks by magistrate Belinda Wallington, who said during his sentencing that his behaviour, including breaching intervention orders, had been "nasty” and “misogynistic”.

She sentenced him to a 12-month good behaviour bond and ordered that he complete a men’s behaviour change program, that he prove to the court that he had done the course and that he pay $1000 to an Indigenous family violence group.

The leaked audio also details Mr Setka’s pursuit of those in the union who have leaked against him. The leaks include the alleged details of his harassment of his wife, as well as his comments that the work of anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty had led to men having fewer rights.

Mr Setka told last week’s meeting the union was closing in on the leakers after engaging a former Victoria Police homicide detective, Stephen Curnow to conduct an inquiry.

“There has been some leaks and it’s been tracked back to the (CFMMEU’s) manufacturing division,” Mr Setka said.

“There’s a full-on investigation going on. There’s a whole lot of files given, it’s almost like a f---ing murder investigation. There’s also sworn statements being made about what people have admitted to saying to (The Age and Sydney Morning Herald reporter) Ben Schneiders, a whole heap of things, so let me tell ya, there will be a bit of f---ing shit that comes down.”

Mr Setka said the leakers had “caused a lot of damage to the union".

“Once we get the paperwork on it, people will be hauled in and people will be made accountable … as much as I’d like revenge and people hung up on the cross, you’ve got to think about the union too.”

The recording also confirms reports that the relationship between Mr Setka’s division of the union and the national office had broken down so irrevocably that the national office, headed by
Michael O’Connor, had moved out of the main CFMMEU office in Melbourne.

“They’ve gone round the corner to Bouverie Street (Carlton) to some f---ed-up building that probably doesn’t have heating or airconditioning,” Mr Setka told the meeting.

“If it has, we will make sure it doesn’t.”

On Saturday, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald revealed a leaked recording of the meeting in which Mr Setka attacked the credibility of independent Senator Jacqui Lambie, blamed ACTU president Michele O’Neil for the senator’s views and vowed to target minor party politicians who vote for the Coalition’s union-busting legislation.

Senator Lambie has tied her vote on the Coalition’s bill to whether Mr Setka stays in his position. She has a crucial swing vote to decide the fate of the legislation and has said if Mr Setka resigns she would not vote for it.

However, Mr Setka made it clear he would not resign.

“In the end, who the f--- is a politician to tell a union secretary or any union official who the f--- is going to run the joint or not? When the f--- is that happening?” he challenged his audience.

Of a meeting at Senator Lambie's house in Tasmania, he said: “It was all meant to be a f---ing secret and she f---ing blabbed".

Senator Jacqui Lambie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

He insisted it was wrong for Senator Lambie to link his future to the passage of the legislation: “She’s thrown it at my feet. It’s got f----all to do with me and in the end I said, ‘You’re the one who has got to vote for it’."

The Coalition’s bill has been criticised by the Queensland Law Society as having “extremely broad” grounds for disqualifying union officials.

The CFMMEU had previously taken a leadership role in tackling men’s violence against women with its male dominated membership. Mr Setka’s deputy, Shaun Reardon, a long-time campaigner on the issue, quit the union in June due to Mr Setka’s conduct.