CFMEU boss John Setka calls AFL chief Andrew Dillon a ‘d***head’ in wild spray over umpire threat

John Setka launched a tirade of abuse against Andrew Dillon after the AFL chief backed in his top umpire, while the prime minister returned fire on the renegade CFMEU boss.

Militant CFMEU leader John Setka has lashed the AFL as a “private school boys’ club” and called its boss a “d***head” after it emphatically backed its head of umpiring.

The head of the CFMEU has dug in against the AFL and its chief Andrew Dillon for refusing to sack top umpire Stephen McBurney who led the Australian Building and Construction Commission when it fined the union millions of dollars over industrial action.

Mr Setka on Friday said the AFL would “pay a heavy price” over its position after Mr Dillon said McBurney would not be going anywhere.

The CFMEU would not be co-operating with requests for some overtime and weekend shifts on AFL jobs which would make it unachievable to meet deadlines and add to construction costs, Mr Setka said.

“Why would our members say you know what, we’re going to forgo our family time to help them, why the f*** would they do that?,” he said.

“We’ll do a reasonable amount of overtime, we’ll do what we’ve got to do, but they will get no favours out of us.

“The problem with these private school boys is they wouldn’t know what real life f***ing is, but they are going to find out the hard way now.

“I just hope they’ve got deep pockets. If they want to stand by this f***ing piece of sh** then good luck to them.”

CFMEU boss John Setka. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Mr Setka said the union would not be targeting individual clubs — saying rumours it would target Adelaide facilities were not true — but said the action the ABCC took against the union deserved “pay back”.

He also took aim at umpiring standards in general, including 50m penalties for players who question decisions made against them, saying it was a result of a “privileged boys’ club” being in charge.

“You’ve got people like f***ing McBurney and d***head Dillon there, ex-Xavier College f***ing person never worked a day in his life, pretty privileged f***ing boys’ club,” he said.

“What would Dillon know? He’s a private school boy, it’s a boys’ club. Talk to any AFL footballer off the record and they’ll tell you it’s a private f***ing boys’ club.

“He used to work at a right-wing f***ing law firm and would be an anti-worker f***ing person so no wonder he’s backing McBurney.”

Mr Setka also hit back at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying: “Albo should just focus on the polls and running the country, not worry about me and the AFL”.

The outburst followed Mr Dillon saying Mr McBurney will stay at the league and may even be in line for a promotion, dismissing repeated demands from Mr Setka for him to be sacked.

The CFMEU boss has launched a menacing campaign against the AFL, threatening to halt all league-related projects unless Mr McBurney is fired from the league because of his previous employment as the head of the building industry watchdog.

AFL boss Andrew Dillon says umpiring boss Stephen McBurney won't be going anywhere. Picture: Matt Loxton

Mr Dillon on Friday stared down Mr Setka’s demands and stood by Mr McBurney.

“He started in his role only quite recently — he’s had a massive impact and he’s been really good for the AFL and really good for the umpires so he’ll be staying at the AFL,” Mr Dillon told 3AW.

“He’ll be our head of umpiring and officiating, or he might have had a promotion from there... Steve McBurney is doing an incredible job for us.”

“What I’m hoping is that any intended action or foreshadowed action doesn’t end up impacting on our spectators, our fans and our hundreds of thousands of participants.”

The prime minister dialled up his criticism of Mr Setka on Friday, saying the union leader had no business interfering in AFL matters.

Who the AFL appointed to positions was “not up to anyone but the AFL”, Mr Albanese said.

“John Setka is someone whose behaviour has led me to expel him from the Labor Party,” he said.

“It is none of his business what occurs with the AFL.”

Mr Albanese on Thursday said it would be “common sense” for the CFMEU to drop its plans to target the AFL — a comment which prompted Mr Setka to tell the prime minister to “stay out of it”.

AFL umpiring boss Stephen McBurney. Picture: AAP Image

Opposition workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash claimed that Mr Setka was “standing over the prime minister of this country”.

“I call on the Prime Minister at his next press conference to properly condemn the bullying, the thuggery and the intimidatory comments that Mr Setka has made in the last 48 hours,” Senator Cash said on Friday.

She urged Mr Albanese to stop accepting donations from the CFMEU and demanded that the Australian Building and Construction Commission be restored.

The CFMEU shared the ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive’ poster of Stephen McBurney on social media. Picture: Supplied

On Thursday Mr Setka dismissed a warning from Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke that the union risked ­breaking the law if members proceeded with their “work-to-rule” threats.

“We know how the system works probably a bit better than Tony Burke does,” Mr Setka told The Australian.

“The campaign’s not stopping one bit.

“We’re not going to have politicians tell us who we can go after and who we can’t. It’s none of their business.

“This is our ­members’ money that these zealots f**king took away from us, and we’re going to take away from him now. It’s got nothing to do with Tony Burke, nothing to do with Albanese.”

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto took a swipe at the Allan government on Thursday for failing to condemn Mr Setka’s ultimatum.

The threats, accompanied by a post of a CFMEU mugshot of Mr McBurney on a “Wanted: Dead or Alive” poster that had the first word crossed out and replaced with “Not wanted”, was branded “violent” by Mr Pesutto.

Mr Pesutto questioned why Premier Jacinta Allan was not calling out Mr Setka, labelling her refusal to condemn the comments “ignorant” and “dangerous”.

“This is a prominent Victorian in Mr Setka … and yet our premier is inconspicuous by her inaction and conspicuous by her silence,” he said.

“Does Premier Jacinta Allan think that John Setka’s comments are a good example for other men?”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the CFMEU has no right to interfere in the AFL Picture: NewsWire

Ms Allan released a statement in response to a series of questions from the Herald Sun on Wednesday.

“Everyone has the right to a safe and respectful workplace,” Ms Allan said.

On Thursday, her deputy, Ben Carroll, defended the decision to not call out Mr Setka’s language.

“Unions are always representing their members’ interests,” he said.

Asked whether he believed Mr Setka’s language was acceptable, Mr Carroll said he wasn’t fully across what was said but defended the role of unions.

“Unions will always advocate on behalf of their members,” he said.

Mr Pesutto said Victoria needed to be free from what he called “rogue union leaders”.

“We want good unions and need good unions in this country and this state,” he said.

Originally published as CFMEU boss John Setka calls AFL chief Andrew Dillon a ‘d***head’ in wild spray over umpire threat