‘Crybullies’ Thorpe and Setka are cut from the same cloth
John Setka and Lidia Thorpe engage in intimidating behaviour then claim persecution when faced with consequences. Now that the ‘traumatised’ ex-CFMEU boss is looking to get his hands on some compo, will the Senator follow suit?
The term crybully describes someone who intimidates others while claiming to be a victim.
Two Australian personalities – senator Lidia Thorpe and former CFMEU boss John Setka – demonstrate this behaviour perfectly.
Let’s look at Thorpe’s actions first. Earlier this week she reportedly shirt-fronted senator Pauline Hanson in the corridors of Parliament House, and tore up and threw papers at Hanson in the chamber.
After being suspended for those actions, Thorpe disrupted parliament again by entering the press gallery and shouting slogans through the Senate door.
When security – instructed by Penny Wong – shut the chamber doors, Thorpe claimed this was an act of silencing. “They do all they can to silence me and those who call out genocide and injustice, and they do all they can to avoid accountability for their complicity,” she later said in a statement.
Thorpe has form. The current suspension follows on from a censure by the Senate for disrupting an event during the King’s visit to Australia, where she yelled: “You are not my king … f..k the colony.”
Yet Thorpe’s history of confrontation dates all the way back to school, where by her own admission she would respond to conflict by “punching boys and girls out”. This pattern of aggressive behaviour has continued into her political career with various incidents including threatening men outside a strip club by telling them they were “marked”; lying down to block a police float at Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade; and being tackled by police during protests.
While serving on parliament’s law enforcement committee she even maintained a secret relationship with an ex-bikie gang boss, using encrypted apps to communicate with him, and deleting their communications regularly. When not engaging in physical confrontations, she has made offensive remarks about other senators, walked out of Senate hearings after heated exchanges, and has posted a message celebrating fire damage to Old Parliament House, declaring “the colonial system is burning down”. (She later deleted the tweet.)
Despite all of this aggressive behaviour, however, Thorpe presents herself as a victim.
“It’s been a horrible week and when you’re subjected to racism, which I have been since I was a kid, I stand up against it – and that’s what I did,” she told the Nine Network’s Today in response to her suspension.
This combination of thuggish behaviour and claims of victimhood brings to mind another figure from Thorpe’s home state of Victoria.
This week, Setka, the former head of the CFMEU, filed a workers compensation claim for post-traumatic stress disorder allegedly suffered while running one of Australia’s most militant unions.
During Setka’s time as CFMEU boss, his intimidation tactics were well documented. Security cameras caught him making a menacing night-time visit to a fellow union official’s family home, where he left a suitcase marked “Leo the Dog”.
His officials were recorded threatening workers with violence, promising to “f..king end you” and “rip your f..king head off”. The CFMEU under Setka’s leadership used threats to control major construction projects, and officials were caught on tape boasting about how they could black-ban companies from government sites worth billions of dollars.
Thorpe and Setka are cut from the same cloth. Consider Thorpe’s own words: “No one tells me the rules around here until I break them.” She openly admits to breaking rules while claiming: “They do all they can to silence me.” She disrupts parliament while claiming she’s the one being persecuted.
Setka’s pattern is similar. His officials were recorded saying “I’ll tear your f..king soul out and you know it” to workers. But after leading a union known for such intimidation tactics, he now claims to be a victim of trauma.
This strategy works because it exploits society’s desire to protect the vulnerable. These crybullies exploit our human instinct for compassion while showing none themselves. They use the language of victimhood as a shield for their own aggressive behaviour.
Thorpe and Setka are crybullies par excellence. They engage in intimidating behaviour – physical confrontations, threats, disruption – then immediately claim persecution when faced with consequences. They switch between aggressor and victim roles depending on whatever serves their interests in the moment. And now that the apparently traumatised Setka is looking to get his hands on some compo, we shouldn’t be surprised if Thorpe follows suit.
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