Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, my right to disconnect. That's correct. There you go, Minister. Tomorrow I will be moving an amendment to enable the Manufacturing Division of the CFMEU, which includes textile, clothing and footwear workers; timber workers; and furniture workers, to hold a secret ballot to demerge from the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union—or, as we all know it, the CFMEU. I'm going to tell you why.

The textile, clothing and footwear sector is currently part of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, the CFMEU, after it did a merger with them in 2018. The textile, clothing and footwear sector is part of the CFMEU and has their greatest number of women. Many of these women are from non-English-speaking backgrounds, and many of them have had firsthand experience of exploitation, underpayment and unsafe conditions. After the merger, the textile, clothing and footwear sector moved into the CFMEU's offices.

One of the union secretaries told the Age newspaper about first meeting with the CFMEU. I quote:

"It was a male-dominated space," she recalls. "He just went on this big rant and there was fear if anyone tried to say anything it would have just got a lot worse."

We know who 'he' is, don't we? We do know that, don't we? 'He' is John Setka, of course, the Victorian State Secretary of the CFMEU—and you wonder why your membership's dropping. It was at this meeting that John Setka also made remarks about Australian of the Year and domestic violence advocate Rosie Batty. Setka told the meeting Ms Batty's advocacy work had lead to men having fewer rights. The textile, clothing and footwear sector representative said:

The Batty statement came towards the end of the meeting. "I just couldn't really believe it,"—

she said—

"Shocked, wanting to just really get out of the room, I wanted it to finish."

But the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union had merged with the CFMEU, and that also meant sharing office space. I'm feeling your pain, ladies. The union rep told the paper:

Within the building there were jokes about domestic violence. It was very uncomfortable to the point where our division had to leave the building.

After these comments were leaked to newspapers, John Setka went after his critics and hired private investigators to bug and follow them—such a pleasant bloke, isn't he? Many quit their positions or were forced out—what a bully. Setka rules the CFMEU with an iron fist. He likes to tell his colleagues:

You throw a stone at me and I'll throw a mountain back.

The mountain is coming, big boy, I can assure you, and I'm riding on it!

Once reports of Setka's comments were known, Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU; and Anthony Albanese, the then Leader of the Opposition, called for Setka's resignation. Setka's response was typical of his bullish behaviour:

For people to try to portray me as some misogynist pig—

which you are—

that bashes women is absolutely disgraceful, … I ain't going to wear that; that's just absolute bull …

But later, in June 2019, John Setka's attitude to women, specifically to his wife, was revealed following an incident from 2018. Following this incident, Victorian police charged Setka with 30 domestic violence charges, including recklessly causing injury and a pattern of harassment through breaching court orders and threats—who would have guessed? The arrest included 45 texts in which he called his wife horrible names using hateful, violent language—he obviously has no respect for women, but I think we all worked that out many years ago. Setka, of course, dismissed these texts as, and I quote, a 'few bad text messages'.

Shortly after, the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that a former deputy president of the Fair Work Commission, Anne Gooley, gave a statement to the police alleging that Mr Setka repeatedly intimidated and terrified his wife over several months. In her police statement, Anne Gooley said that she had witnessed Mr Setka's treatment of his wife and that:

Seeing John's anger … I was extremely distressed.

A few weeks before Christmas in 2018, Setka's estranged wife took out an intervention order against him. In sworn statements, she accused Setka of a pattern of violence and a campaign of harassment. She said she was under surveillance, including at home. On the day she got the intervention order, she put a safety device under her front door to stop Setka getting in. Anne Gooley, in her statement, said: 'When John arrived back at the house, he broke the door in while I was sitting in the front room of the house. I yelled out and she, Setka's estranged wife, ran into the downstairs bathroom and locked herself in.'

In late August 2019, Setka's estranged wife provided a new sworn statement to police, stating that they had 'started having a verbal argument and it was getting very heated and aggressive'. She said:

John was out of control. He hit my head against the table about five times … It was very painful. John is a lot bigger and stronger than me and he can totally physically control me. When he loses his temper, there isn't anything I can do but submit to him.

A journalist contacted Anne Gooley about the incident and, in her email response, she described Setka's conduct this way:

John's behaviour was not simply a few abusive emails or text messages … His conduct drove my friend out of her home and at one time out of the state. I was not surprised that John did not stand down or that he targeted those who did not support him as I never believed that he had any real insight into his behaviour. It was always someone else's fault or he downplayed his conduct.

Anne Gooley sat on the Fair Work Commission full bench that dealt with the ACTU's claim for paid family violence leave, a world-leading entitlement. She said the union movement had made significant progress on the issue of domestic violence but she was concerned about what message was being sent by Setka and his supporters. He is not alone. Welcome to the top of the CFMEU. Nothing's changed. She also said:

My concern about their support for John is the message this sends to those in the movement who experience family violence that their experiences will not be believed … It also tells those in the movement who are perpetrators of family violence that their conduct will be condoned.

So let's review what I have said. We have a union with thousands of women, many of them from non-English-speaking backgrounds. They want to be able to have a secret ballot to leave the CFMEU—and who can blame them?—to take control themselves. That's what they want. Who in here could in all conscience vote against these women? I would like all of the senators in here to go home and think about that deeply this evening. If your party is telling you to vote against this amendment, I want you to think about how you will feel about betraying these women. All the passionate speeches that I've heard in this place about domestic violence, all the speeches about how women should be empowered to take control over their lives, did you mean them and will you stand by your words for these women? Will you stand by your principles for these women? Will you stand up for these women? These women want to be demerged. I don't want to hear any rubbish tomorrow. I'm putting that amendment up and if, God forbid, after everything that has gone on in the last three or four years up here you don't stand up for these women—that goes for that side over there, the government and the Greens—your credibility will go down the drain just like that tomorrow. So I am putting it to you. I'm coming for that amendment and I want it supported. Give these women the freedom they want. Give them freedom from John Setka. God, we owe them that much.