Union leader John Setka faces new abuse allegations from estranged wife Emma Walters

Union leader John Setka faces new allegations of verbal abuse and making threats against Emma Walters | LISTEN

Emma Walters, the estranged wife of CFMEU leader John Setka, has given a signed statement to police alleging verbal abuse and threats. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Union leader John Setka faces new allegations of verbal abuse and making threats against his estranged wife, Emma Walters.

Ms Walters has given a signed statement to police in which she alleges Mr Setka, Victorian secretary of the CFMEU, called her a “dog c..t” during a heated phone conversation on Wednesday last week, and said her job could be “taken away”.

Ms Walters, a lawyer, is employed as a traffic management officer on a Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union-controlled building site in Melbourne – a job she secured with Mr Setka’s help when the couple was on good terms.

She and Mr Setka have lived apart since an alleged assault in August last year, when Ms Walters went to police alleging her husband had become violent at their family home in Melbourne’s western suburbs, repeatedly hitting her head against a table.

In her sworn statement lodged with Victoria Police, signed on Saturday and obtained by The Australian, Ms Walters says she answered a call from Mr Setka on Wednesday last week because she knew “a mediator” had had contact with him to “discuss negotiations we had been having in regards to financial separation and a parenting plan”.

Ms Walters says in the statement that she used the voice mode of another phone in her house to record the conversation, which she then gave to close friend, lawyer and former Fair Work Commission deputy president Anne Gooley to hand to Victoria Police on her behalf.

“The phone call became abusive,” Ms Walters says in her police statement. “He started calling my brother a ‘dog c..t’. He told me that I was a ‘give-up dog c..t’ for talking to Footscray police station (in the past).

“He called a friend of mine, Anne Gooley, a ‘dog c..t’ and words to that effect, and that I should not listen to her advice.

No comment: John Setka. Picture: David Crosling

“He also threatened me, and threats came in the form of ‘I shouldn’t listen to Footscray Police because everyone at Footscray Police thinks that I’m a give-up dog c..t, and that everyone at Footscray Police thinks that what I did (in previously reporting Mr Setka to police) was a dog’s act’.

“During the conversation, he said everyone thinks I am a drug-f..ked alcoholic and that they won’t believe anything I say.

“John articulated to me that the mediator thought I was a drunk dog c..t and everyone at the job site where I currently work thinks I am a dog and I should be grateful to him and the union for allowing me to have that job and that that job can be taken away and I will not receive the income.”

Ms Walters says in her statement that the conversation with her estranged husband “sent my stomach into turmoil”. She adds: “I genuinely felt that no one would be able to help me in this position that I’m in. It made me feel powerless and afraid. It made me afraid of reporting this incident to the police.”

The Australian sought comment from Mr Setka about his conversation with Ms Walters last week, and about her sworn statement to police.

A spokeswoman for Mr Setka declined to comment.

The Australian has heard the recording of Ms Walters’ conversation with Mr Setka, which Ms Gooley gave to Victoria Police and which was also posted on Ms Walters’ Facebook on Wednesday. The recorded conversation appears to be consistent with Ms Walters’ statement to police.

In the recording, Mr Setka calls Ms Walters a “f..king dog” and says she has “made a c..t of yourself” and her family is a “pack of c..ts”. He talks about possibly withholding funds until a settlement is reached between them, and says she could lose her job.

Ms Walters told The Australian on Wednesday that she had become frustrated with the time taken for Victoria Police to respond to her allegations, while accepting that Covid-19 had placed an added burden on them.

“I am exhausted, I am frustrated,” she said. “I understand the difficulties Victoria Police are encountering at this time. However, the emotional, physical turmoil this is causing my family is quite significant. I can only hope something can be done.”

Mr Setka has attracted headlines in recent years over his aggressive style of union leadership and the industrially militant tactics of his union.

Attention turned to Mr Setka’s conduct towards his wife in 2019 when he was convicted of harassing her and breaching court orders with more than 25 calls and 45 text messages.

Following his conviction, Mr Setka resisted pressure from within the union movement to resign from his CFMEU position.

Ms Walters told The Australian: “The power John Setka has over my life is indescribable. The machine that protects him that I have knowledge of will do anything to stop me from speaking out. I am living fight or flight to protect myself and my children from everything he can do to me.”