PM says message from CFMEU boss John Setka to ABCC ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Scott Morrison says he will consider deregistering one of the country’s most powerful trade unions, characterising a weekend tweet from a state union leader as “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.

The Victorian secretary of the CFMEU, John Setka, issued a Father’s Day message to the Australian Building and Construction Commission, featuring his children holding up a sign saying “go get fu#ked”.

John Setka (@CFMEUJohnSetka) Message to McBurney & ABCC:

“LEAVE OUR DADS ALONE AND GO CATCH REAL CRIMINALS YOU COWARDS!!”



Happy Father’s Day to all the ⁦@CFMEU⁩ dads today!😜#auspol pic.twitter.com/OJQ0L2RER8

Setka responded to the furore on Monday morning by deleting the tweet and acknowledging that he was “emotional” and should not have included his children.

John Setka (@CFMEUJohnSetka) Mea Culpa. Was emotional on Father’s Day after tough year on family. Shouldn’t have included kids. Now deleted.

Morrison used radio interviews earlier on Monday to say deregistration was an option, and the government might consider new legislation in order to achieve that objective.

The prime minister said he would discuss the options with the new industrial relations minister, Kelly O’Dwyer.

“The CFMEU has behaved under John Setka like a bunch of thugs, and to involve children in that, I think, is one of the ugliest things I’ve seen,” the prime minister said.

“When you see children being used in these sorts of protests, and we saw it in those horrific things in relation to some of the protests around terrorism and things – I mean this stuff just makes your skin crawl”.

'Bill Shorten does the bidding of the CFMEU,' Malcolm Turnbull says Read more

Morrison then segued from an attack on Setka and the CFMEU to an attack on the Labor leader, Bill Shorten. “If Bill Shorten’s fair dinkum about anything, then he must cease all ties between the Labor party and himself and John Setka and the CFMEU out of decency, let alone anything else.”

He said Shorten needed to extricate himself from the “warm embrace” of the trade union because “you’re known by who you stand next to”. He pointed out that it was a Labor leader, Bob Hawke, who deregistered the Builders Labourers Federation in 1986.

“Bill Shorten’s got his arms all around John Setka; John Setka’s got his arms all around Bill Shorten.

“Bill Shorten is union bred, union fed and union led, and that’s how he will run Australia.”

The shadow infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese did not endorse the tweet, but he said the reaction to it needed some perspective. He said the Coalition never spoke about the crucial role of unions in keeping people safe on construction sites.

“An individual sent a tweet – let’s put this in some perspective here,” Albanese told Sky News. “It’s an inappropriate tweet, but we shouldn’t determine policy over what occurs in the construction industry over a tweet.”