Former CFMEU boss John Setka’s workers compensation claim partially accepted

The former Victorian CFMEU leader will have his medical expenses paid, with a doctor recommending he undertake counselling and consider ‘eye-movement desensitisation therapy’.

Former CFMEU leader John Setka. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

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Former Victorian CFMEU boss John Setka has won limited ­acceptance of his workers compensation claim alleging he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and will have his medical expenses paid.

Mr Setka, whose claim alleged his mental health deteriorated while running the militant construction union, was also awarded weekly payments totalling $3636 for the period of November 20 to December 17 last year.

But Mr Setka’s claim for weekly payments after December 17 was rejected, as a claims assessor ruled he did not have any incapacity for work since that date.

Multiple sources with knowledge of Mr Setka’s claim said his doctor recommended he undertake counselling and consider eye-movement desensitisation and reprocessing therapy, a trauma-healing technique that involves the movement of the eyes in a specific way while traumatic memories are processed.

Mr Setka, who served as the union’s Victorian secretary for 12 years and was an official for ­almost 40 years, was paid $450,000 in entitlements following his resignation.

Mr Setka did not respond to The Australian’s requests for comment on Monday.

The Australian revealed in November that Mr Setka had lodged the workers compensation claim and cited a series of incidents, including death threats, to explain the cause of his alleged injury.

Sources said the incidents cited by Mr Setka included violent protests outside the CFMEU Victorian headquarters during the Covid pandemic in 2021, and the collapse of a wall in Swanston Street, Melbourne, in 2013, that killed three pedestrians. Mr Setka was one of the first people at the scene of the collapse and provided support to the victims.

Mr Setka also cited 2015 blackmail charges against him and his former deputy Shaun Reardon, which were dropped in 2018.

John Setka, pictured last year, showing off a new tattoo.

It is understood Mr Setka cited death threats and abuse he endured in the 12 years he led the Victorian branch before he resigned in July last year following a series of damaging allegations against him and the union.

Sources said Mr Setka justified making the late claim because he was concerned making an earlier one would have undermined his authority and reputation running the union, and would have potentially undermined his personal safety, given the death threats.

It is understood Mr Setka claimed he felt the weight of the construction industry on his shoulders and he “had to be brave”.

Following Mr Setka’s resignation and publication of allegations that the union had been infiltrated by organised crime and outlaw bikies, the ­Albanese government put the union’s construction division into administration.

Meanwhile, the proposed appointment of Jared Abbott, the assistant general secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, to lead the cleanup of the CFMEU in that state has come under fire.

It is understood CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC, was considering appointing Mr Abbott to replace Travis O’Brien, who resigned after less than six months in the job.

Kane Lowth, the former assistant secretary of the Queensland/Northern Territory branch, said on Monday that Mr Abbott’s proposed appointment sent “shockwaves” through several unions affiliated to the QCU. He said the QCU did not endorse Labor’s “hostile takeover” of the CFMEU.

“Any endorsement of Jared Abbott or anyone from the QCU would prove once and for all the hypocrisy of these so-called powerbrokers at the QCU and the ulterior motives that we all know are at play,” Mr Lowth said.

It is understood Mr Abbott had not been formally offered the job, nor had he agreed to take it on.

The Weekend Australian revealed that former KordaMentha partner Alison Currie recently quit as chief of staff to Mr Irving.

A CFMEU administration representative said Ms Currie had been asked to assist Mr Irving with the establishment of the administration and his office, and left with the administration’s “gratitude”.

Mr Lowth said he hoped the federal election would result in the Albanese government being put into minority government as he believed federal Labor had become “Liberal-lite”.