John Setka defies Sally McManus’s call for him to quit as Victorian CFMEU boss

A meeting of Victorian CFMEU construction division delegates has demanded the national office express support for John Setka.

CFMEU Secretary John Setka arrives at the ACTU building in Melbourne this afternoon.

John Setka is defying demands by ACTU secretary Sally McManus for him to quit, declaring he has no intention of resigning as Victorian CFMEU secretary.

In response to the call by Ms McManus this afternoon for him to stand down, Mr Setka tweeted: “As I said in my press conference yesterday, I will not be stepping down as secretary of the CFMEU.”

As I said in my press conference yesterday, I will not be stepping down as secretary of the CFMEU.

— John Setka (@CFMEUJohnSetka) June 13, 2019

Ms McManus had told Mr Setka to resign ‘in the best interests of the union movement’.

Ms McManus, who held a 90-minute meeting with Mr Setka today, said she had consulted with a ‘wide range of union leaders and they share this view’.

Ms McManus said Mr Setka had said on Wednesday that he intended to plead guilty to using a carriage service to harass a woman.

‘I have previously said if these allegations are correct, the ones that have been reported in the media, they are totally unacceptable,’’ she said

‘There is no place for perpetrators of domestic violence in leadership positions in our movement.’

Ms McManus said workers expected their leaders to uphold union values and to be focused on advancing their interests.

‘Unions are democratic, member-run organisations and while John is elected by his members, he also needs to consider the interests of working people and the wider union movement,’ she said

‘Where an individual’s actions cause damage to the whole movement, the interest of union members and the whole movement needs to be put first.

‘The current Federal Government will use any opportunity to impose further, anti-democratic, anti-worker laws on all union officials and all unions, it is clear they will try and exploit this situation for their own ends. These laws will make it harder for ordinary working people to receive fair wages and conditions. We must oppose these laws.

‘Now, in the interests of our movement, in the interests of working people, and in the interests of the values we share, I have asked John to do what is best for everyone and stand down.’

Delegates express support for Setka

A meeting of Victorian CFMEU construction division delegates today demanded the union’s national leadership express public support for Mr Setka.

The delegates expressed support for Mr Setka as state secretary, passing a resolution which said “we strongly condemn the cowardly and disgraceful attacks on both John and his family”.

“In support of the branch Secretary and to prevent the further undermining of our union, we demand the national office of CFMEU put out a public statement supporting John’s leadership and clarifying the comments and events stemming from the last National Executive,’’ it said.

“Following the release of this statement, the Delegates also demand an independent and detailed audit be performed on the phone records of all individuals who attended the last national executive in an attempt to find out where the damaging and manufactured leaks came from.

“These leaks not only disable and weaken our union, but also distract us from what we are elected to do; to represent and protect the interests of our members and their families”

Setka ‘won’t resign’

Mr Setka earlier emerged from the meeting and said he did not intend to resign. But Ms McManus said he hoped he would reconsider and quit.

She said she told him he needed to think about the interests of the union movement and not just himself and the interests of the Victorian CFMEU.

Ms McManus said her action was not related to the reported comments Mr Setka had made about Ms Batty.

Asked what action the ACTU would take if he refused to quit, she said he would be given a reasonable amount of time to respond.

“Why would I do that?” Mr Setka replied when asked by reporters if he intended to stand down.

Asked if Ms McManus had asked him to reconsider his position, he said: “My members are the ones that ask me whether to continue my position. They are the ones that pay my wages and that’s who I will be taking advice off.”

He said he had a “nice and open and frank discussion” with Ms McManus.

Ms McManus is scheduled to address the media at 3pm.

‘Albo is wrong on Setka’

A senior construction union official has demanded Anthony Albanese withdraw his bid to expel Mr Setka from the ALP, denying the Victorian union leader made disparaging comments about Rosie Batty.

Rita Mallia, the NSW president of the CFMEU, said she was at the recent meeting of the union’s national executive addressed by Mr Setka and he did not seek to “cast blame’’ on the anti-domestic violence campaigner.

Mr Albanese has moved to have Mr Setka expelled from the ALP based on reports that Mr Setka said the activism of Ms Batty had led to men having fewer rights. Mr Setka has denied denigrating Ms Batty.

“It was just going into what lawyers had told me in regards to some of the laws and had nothing to do with Rosie Batty changing the laws or anything, there was nothing denigrating and nothing terrible said about Rosie Batty at all,” Mr Setka said yesterday.

Ms Mallia is the second union official in attendance at the meeting to back Mr Setka’s position. No CFMEU official at the meeting has yet to come out publicly and back the claim Mr Setka said Ms Batty’s work led to men having fewer rights.

Maritime Union of Australia official Chris Cain, who attended the executive meeting, said yesterday he was “sitting five feet away” from Mr Setka and he did not make comments critical of Ms Batty.

“I was in the room,’’ Mr Cain said. “It’s just a beat-up. It’s a big stitch-up, a total miscarriage of justice and ­Albanese should be ashamed of himself. Maybe he should resign.”

Mr Setka met with Ms McManus in Melbourne this afternoon to discuss the furore. Speaking briefly to reporters as he arrived, he said he had no intention of resigning as CFMEU Victorian secretary. Mr Setka was accompanied by Electrical Trades Union Victorian Secretary Troy Gray who yesterday called on Mr Albanese to drop his bid to expel Mr Setka from the ALP.

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus urgently returned to Australia to deal with the CFMEU crisis.

John Setka smiles as he arrives at ACTU headquarters for his meeting with Sally McManus. Picture: David Geraghty

Ms Mallia said today the union’s NSW construction division was very concerned the comments by Mr Setka “have been taken entirely out of context’’.

She said Darren Greenfield, the union’s NSW secretary and the entire NSW branch “support John Setka and do not support calls for his resignation’’.

“We also call on the ALP to withdraw its calls for John’s expulsion for the ALP and check the facts,’’ she said.

Ms Mallia today gave a detailed account of Mr Setka’s address to the union national executive last Wednesday. “In the interest of full disclosure to the committee and apparently at some legal disadvantage to himself, John told of the events and emotional turmoil that his family and he had gone through since Christmas and what he and his partner Emma had been doing in trying to face their problems and put their family back together,’’ she said.

“John candidly spoke, of this personal experience and the ordeal of his family. In the course of that John spoke of the understanding he now had of men who are unable to tell their side of the story because of changes to the system.

“At no time did he cast blame for this on Ms Rosie Batty. I took this to mean a reference to his own inability to tell his side of the story whilst the media and others could freely speculate on what had happened.’’

Ms Mallia said “no-one at the meeting expressed their concern about what he said’’ and ‘‘I was not concerned’’.

“This was not a political speech, or a speech about men’s versus women’s rights, it was a bloke opening up to a meeting that was meant to be private about his family’s painful ordeal,’’ she said

“It’s disappointing to the extreme that afterwards unidentified people leaked details of comments made in confidence and latched onto one comment without acknowledging the full context. He and his family shouldn’t be dragged through the mud. The consequential trial by media without regard to the facts and by those who were not present at the meeting is a disgrace.’’

Dutton tells Albo: dump Setka from CFMEU

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has labelled Mr Albanese “weak” for not demanding that John Setka be expelled from the CFMEU and not just the Labor Party.

Mr Setka claims he is the victim of false allegations being made for political gain and is refusing to relinquish his position in the union despite confirming he intended to plead guilty in court to using a carriage service to harass a woman.

“The CFMEU continue to believe they’re above the law ... Mr Albanese is a weak leader and thanks that’s been demonstrated. I don’t think Mr Albanese is going to be in this job very long,” Mr Dutton said.

“There are already people trying to undermine him in the union movement. The Labor Party still to this very day has taken million of dollars from the CFMEU. Mr Albanese won’t stand up and say they won’t take any donations from the CFMEU. Of course they’ll continue that because they want the cash.”

The Labor Party has taken nearly $14 million from the national CFMEU since 2000, and Mr Setka’s Victorian branch alone has donated nearly $1m to the ALP since he became its leader in 2012.

Two left-wing union officials yesterday criticised Mr Albanese over his handling of Mr Setka’s reported comments to the CFMEU nat­ional executive criticising Ms Batty.

Mr Albanese this morning defended his move to expel Mr Setka. “I did speak to people at that meeting. I don’t know John Setka, I don’t have his number, I’ve never had a conversation with him,” Mr Albanese told ABC radio. “I did to speak to others, I did speak to others in the union movement.

“There is no doubt that over a considerable period of time that some of the statements Mr Setka has made are not just incompatible with the party I lead or the view of mainstream Australia.’’

Mr Albanese shrugged off Mr Cain’s comments this morning, after the MUA official suggested Mr Albanese should resign over his moves against Mr Setka.

“Unfortunately for Mr Cain, he said that Mr Setka didn’t mention Rosie Batty. Well, that’s not what Mr Setka says himself,” the Labor leader said. “Mr Setka said his comments about Rosie Batty have been misinterpreted, which is a very different thing from Mr Cain’s recollection.”

ETU Victorian secretary Troy Gray has called for Mr Albanese to retract his criticisms of Mr Setka and end his attempts to have him expelled from the Labor Party.

Daniel Andrews backs Albanese stance

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he supported the action Mr Albanese had taken in expelling Mr Setka from the Labor Party, but denied the backlash the federal Labor leader is facing from elements within the union movement shows the party is too dependent on support from unions.

Mr Andrews said there was no place for Mr Setka’s “conduct and behaviour” in the Labor Party.

“As for who leads (the CFMEU), that’s a matter for members of that union,” the Premier said.

“I’m not a member of the CFMEU, so others will make that judgment. In terms of those organisations that are affiliated to my party, no union is about one person. It’s much bigger than one person, and no political party is about one person either, so they’re principally matters that the party will deal with.”

Mr Andrews and his cabinet have for weeks refused to comment on Mr Setka’s intention to plead guilty to harassing a woman. The Premier had not publicly criticised the CFMEU boss until Tuesday, after Mr Setka was accused on Saturday of making his comments about Ms Batty. Mr Andrews said he was proud of his government’s record of holding Australia’s first royal commission into family violence.

“We’re the only party that’s committed to implementing all 27 of the recommendations, and more than $2bn has been invested by my government for the prevention of family violence, changing attitudes towards women and outcomes for women,” Mr Andrews said.

“I have a zero tolerance approach when it comes to these sorts of issues.

“That’s why when the comments were made, they were made on a Friday, they were reported on a Saturday, he was out of the party on a Tuesday after a long weekend. That’s exactly the way that it should be.”

Asked whether he would support Labor’s national executive disaffiliating from the CFMEU should Mr Setka continue to refuse to resign, Mr Andrews said: “I think we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves there.”

Mr Andrews said he had not been contacted by any union leaders displeased with his support for Mr Albanese’s stance on expelling Mr Setka from the Labor Party.

Asked whether the backlash against Mr Albanese from several union leaders was an indication of the extent to which Labor is held to ransom by elements within the union movement, Mr Andrews said: “No.”

CFMEU hurting Labor: Rudd

Also this morning, Kevin Rudd called on the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union to have a “long, hard look at itself”.

The former prime minister and Mr Setka have a difficult history with the latter vocally protesting the decision to give Mr Rudd lifetime membership of the Labor Party at last year’s ALP national conference.

Mr Rudd — who has long campaigned for loosening the grip of the unions and the Labor factions over the party — said Mr Albanese had shown “strong leadership” in moving against Mr Setka and pushing for his expulsion from Labor.

Former Labor PM @MrKRudd says the CFMMEU needs to take a "long, hard look at itself" and the damage leaders like John Setka have done to the party. pic.twitter.com/quzmkJu6vJ

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 12, 2019

“The CFMMEU, or whatever it’s called these days, needs to have a long, hard look at itself in terms of the damage — which certain of its leaders have delivered to the corporate brand of the Labor Party over the years — and Setka is one of them,” Mr Rudd told the Seven Network this morning.

“Before we go into Mr Setka’s civil liberties — or whether he said this, or said that — I’d call on the union to have a long, hard look at itself.

“The Labor Party is a party of fundamentally decent values. And many of us, frankly, can’t stand it when we people act out on the extremes like this.”

With Rachel Baxendale