What we had confirmed last week was that Australia has never had a weaker Prime Minister than Anthony Albanese.
Mr Albanese failed to stand up to the CFMEU’s bully boss, John Setka, who made outrageous demands of the AFL to sack their umpire boss Steve McBurney.
Mr Setka threatened disruptions on AFL-linked infrastructure worksites across the country because of Mr McBurney’s former role as head of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Mr Setka even stood over Mr Albanese - telling him – to “stay out of it”. And guess what – that is exactly what the Prime Minister did.
The Prime Minister was completely humiliated by Mr Setka who treated him with absolute contempt. But Mr Albanese was too weak to stand up to Mr Setka.
Australia deserves a strong leader and that is the exact opposite of what we are getting with Mr Albanese.
He is weak and impotent.
And we all know why. There are 4.3 million reasons why the Prime Minister refuses to condemn Mr Setka. The CFMEU donated $4.3 million to the ALP before the last election.
What this Prime Minister should do is stand up and say the Australian Labor Party is cutting ties with the CFMEU, and we refuse to accept any further donations. It'd be even better if he said, we'll also hand back the $4.3 million.
But if he really wanted to show that he believed in the construction industry, that he believed in the thousands and thousands of Australians who wake up every day and literally build Australia, he would restore the tough cop on the beat, the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
But we know that he won't, because as Mr. Setka said, "stay out of it", and that is what our weak and impotent Prime Minister will do.
The ABCC – the building industry watchdog – was abolished by Labor in 2022.
By abolishing the ABCC, Labor effectively handed Australia’s third-largest industry over to Mr Setka – an industry that employs thousands of Australians and contributes to 9% of our country’s GDP.
Under the ABCC’s watch:
The courts found that the unions had contravened the law in over 90% of cases.
Mr McBurney was successful in securing in excess of $16 million dollars in fines.
Mr McBurney also secured in excess of $5 million in wages and entitlements for over 8,000 employees.
This is what John Setka said to Gary Adshead on 6PR last week:
As far as we're concerned, we will pursue the ex-ABCC to the ends of the earth. And if they simply just gonna pop up somewhere and just ride off into the sunset, it's not going to happen. We are not going to let these people forget what they did. And we are gonna let the whole world know what they did and if some people don't like that - well, you know what, bad luck. I mean we're just gonna tell the truth. We're gonna expose these people and let everyone know, this is what they've done, this is who it is, you can't go anywhere without knowing who you are. And people have got a problem with that, well bad luck, That's democracy.
He also said:
I did not make any threats. We're only talking about exposing people. I mean, people like McBurney attack workers and the conditions and be so un-democratic they make North Korea look like a democracy and then just ride off into the sunset like nothing's ever happened. I mean, there is going to be consequences.
But Mr Setka’s beef with Mr McBurney isn’t new.
In 2018, Setka tweeted a photo of his children holding up a sign reading “go get fu#ked” with the comment “to McBurney & ABCC … GO CATCH REAL CRIMINALS YOU COWARDS!!”
That same year he wrote in a union blog post saying:
Malcolm Turnbull has a new top dog for his attack dog, the anti-worker ABCC. Stephen McBurney … was an assistant commissioner of the ABCC under John Howard at a time when construction worker deaths peaked – 48 killed in 2006 and 51 in 2007.
We can’t forget that Mr Setka and the CFMEU think they are above the law. They have been before the courts hundreds of times, with charges and allegations of bullying, thuggery and intimidation.
Our weak, impotent Prime Minister can’t bring himself to condemn Mr Setka or the CFMEU or cut ties with them.
On Friday he suggested to journalists that they shouldn't ask questions, because and I quote, “it might encourage Mr. Setka.”
It is typical of the unions to put their own personal vendettas above the interests of Australians, but it will be Australians who pay the price. This threat will impact all Australians who look forward to cheering their footy teams on the weekend or having a kick on AFL grounds.
And our weak and impotent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese just stands back and lets it all happen.
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