CFEMU troubles give Anthony Albanese a big factional win

The Prime Minister will be one of the big winners amid the CFMEU’s looming loss of power in the Victorian ALP as the state lurches further into Socialist Left territory.

Former CFMEU Victoria boss John Setka. Picture: NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Anthony Albanese will be a chief beneficiary of factional upheaval caused by the CFMEU crisis, with the broad Socialist Left faction set to take commanding control of the ALP in Labor’s strongest state.

The Socialist Left is expected to have at least 55 per cent – and probably more – of the party conference floor vote after the CFMEU alliance was gutted by the scandal.

The factions are scrambling to decide what to do after the CFMEU’s notorious activities led to the resignation of former ­Victorian construction secretary John Setka and the drive for external oversight of the union.

Mr Setka’s political demise also means battling Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s grip on the leadership has been tightened in the short-term as the Victorian branch moves further to the Left.

Mr Setka was connected through convenience with parts of the Victorian Right but had marriages of convenience across the party for years.

Mr Setka’s group makes up a crucial 11 per cent of the party but that bloc in the so-called Industrial Left will now splinter, according to several sources.

Factional powerbrokers have calculated that most of the numbers will peel off to the Left, at least in the short term, before attempts are made to inject life back into the Right, which has been smashed in recent years.

An overall — and clear — majority for the Socialist Left in the run-up to the federal election would notionally aid Mr Albanese but there was likely to be some turbulence as old guard members of the CFMEU fought to retain status, multiple sources said.

There will be national implications in the ALP over the CFMEU scandal.

It comes as an Indigenous business leader has revealed Victoria’s Department of Premier and Cabinet was warned his firm was being bullied off Big Build construction sites by the CFMEU.

The leader also claims that both former premier Daniel Andrews and then deputy premier Ms Allan were aware of their plight but believes they failed to take action to protect the company.

In an interview with The Australian, the business leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the CFMEU had bullied the Indigenous firm off at least a dozen Big Build sites, perhaps as many as 17, and racially abused and spat on its staff.

“We were one of the most discriminated against companies,” he told The Weekend Australian. “We were blackbanned on at least 12 sites, maybe 17, and pushed off mid-way through contracts, workers were blatantly abused by the CFMEU, threatened, spat at … racist abuse, everything.’’

Exposes of the CFMEU’s bullying and alleged infiltration by organised crime has sent shockwaves through the ALP and the broader labour movement.

Mr Setka has been known for decades to be a hard man but footage obtained by Nine Media showing alleged infiltration of the construction division of the union by criminal elements has blown open the debate about its activities.