Setka stripped of CFMEU membership, faces claim over slush fund millions

Disgraced ex-CFMEU leader John Setka has been expelled from the union he transformed into one of the most powerful and controversial industrial and political forces in the nation.

The union administration’s decision to rip up Setka’s last remaining formal tie to the CFMEU — his union ticket — comes as Victoria’s Kourakis royal commission unearths extraordinary witness testimony about the conduct of the union and the state Labor government on the $109 billion Big Build infrastructure scheme.

In announcing Setka’s expulsion, union administrator Michael Crosby said Setka was expelled after facing 27 disciplinary charges under the union’s disciplinary process, including allegations he misappropriated more than $3 million in union funds.

“John Setka held a position of responsibility but abused that privilege to take millions of dollars from the members of the CFMEU,” Crosby said.

“John Setka’s conduct is shameful. He has failed in the most basic duties of a union official – to put members’ interests above all.”

In September, The Age revealed that Setka was refusing to cede control of more than $1 million held in a private political slush fund that has earned millions of dollars, including via a deal struck with Coca-Cola to take a cut of the sale of soft drinks on building sites.

Leaked correspondence showed that Setka had been sent demands from Crosby to hand back to the union control of a multimillion-dollar slush fund that “could have been – and should have been – income earned by the CFMEU for the benefit of its members”.

Crosby’s ongoing forensic inquiries have determined the Setka-controlled slush fund had received “over $400,000” from Coca-Cola Amatil, as the fund earned more than $3 million from building site vending machine deals and the sale of CFMEU merchandise.

Setka has previously told this masthead the vending machine arrangement had been struck long before he became secretary of the union and denied any wrongdoing.

In a separate development, Setka and several other former ex-CFMEU lieutenants are also facing civil prosecution for their suspected misuse of $329,000 in members’ money to entrench the power of the allegedly corrupt former boss of the Health Workers Union and ALP powerbroker Diana Asmar.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Crosby said that Setka “had failed in his duty as secretary of the union and diverted $3.3 million in revenue from union merchandise and site vending machines to his companies”.

Crosby also vowed to pursue Setka for the misappropriated funds after the former union boss ignored requests from Crosby’s administration to respond to claims he had no legal right to hold hostage funds belonging to union members.

Setka’s expulsion completes an extraordinary fall from power for a man who once wielded significant influence over the Victorian Labor Party and who continues to have allies in select union and political circles.

While Setka’s 12-year leadership of the CFMEU involved record pay and conditions being delivered to construction workers, it also coincided with the union’s descent into allegedly improper relationships with gangland figures, bikie gang clubs and building company bosses suspected of exploiting workers.

From 2020, Setka’s union wielded increasing power over the Big Build, gaining near complete industrial control over government projects by 2024.

By then, the union had – according to revelations first unearthed by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald and now being explored in detail by the Kourakis royal commission – allowed certain gangland figures and companies aligned with select CFMEU bosses to allegedly profit at the expense of Victorian taxpayers.

One of those gangland figures named during Wednesday’s commission hearing, Mick Gatto, was Setka’s close friend.

In July 2024, this masthead published private and highly revealing text messages between Gatto and Setka.

The leaked texts cast fresh light on the closeness of the pair’s bond, with Gatto telling Setka “I love ya” and each man describing the other as “brother”.

“Thanks John for publicly defending our friendship,” Gatto also texted. “I do love ya. Without you the union is gone.”

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