‘That is a lot of f...ing money’: the man accused of costing Victoria $15 billion speaks out
Former CFMEU leader John Setka, at the centre of a political storm rocking Victoria, says he is the true victim.
Did unionist John Setka help steal $15 billion from Victoria?
The former Victorian construction union head was last week accused of leading a criminal enterprise of stand over men, bikie gangs and union thugs on building sites across the state.
Curious to understand what the man accused of orchestrating one of history’s greatest heists thinks of the charge, I decided to ask him. Setka agreed to speak, giving his first extended interview since barrister Geoffrey Watson, SC, accused him of leading a “crime syndicate” that cost the state, conservatively, $15 billion.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“That is a lot of f...ing money,” Setka told me Friday. “It just doesn’t go missing You just don’t hide it. It is just so f..ken outlandish, it’s almost fantasy land.”
‘Even killers’
From 2012 to 2024, Setka led the Victorian construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the CFMEU. Mr Watson’s investigation, published on February 11, alleges that under Setka the union looked after “gangsters, standover men, bikies, heroin traffickers, and even killers”.
Despite over a decade of controversy, including being expelled from the Labor Party by none other than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Setka hasn’t been charged with corruption or banned from the union movement.
“What criminal enterprise were we running?” he said. “Where has this money gone? I want you to report the truth. I have never hung around with bikies in my life.”
During our half-hour conversation, Setka qualified the last assertion. He used to see Mongols motorcycle gang president Toby Mitchell drinking coffee at Don Camillo cafe in West Melbourne but “I wouldn’t have had a clue who he was until he got shot”.
Mitchell, who has been described as one of the most well-known bikie figures in Victoria, survived shootings in 2011 and 2013.
Political impact
Mr Watson’s corruption estimate, which assumes the CFMEU drove up the costs of government construction projects by 15 per cent, has done substantial political damage to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. She has responded by questioning Mr Watson’s motivations. The Police Minister and the Attorney-General also criticised the lawyer this week.
The opposition has promised a royal commission into the union, which would likely focus on Setka. On Wednesday every party represented in the upper house of parliament, except the Labor Party, supported a royal commission. Even some CFMEU members support such an inquiry, one Labor Party source told me, because they want the union’s reputation restored and corruption eradicated.
Mr Watson doubts that’s possible. “It’s been going on forever,” he told a Queensland inquiry into the union last week.
Where the billions went is unclear. Setka “seems to own at least four houses,” Mr Watson wrote in his report. “Some say more. It is not clear how a man on his salary, fully devoted to Union duties, could have done so well.”
Setka told me he owns a house, in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, and has a mortgage of approximately $750,000. “How dare he say that,” he said. “Show me where my houses are. I don’t know where they f..king are. This is all just fabricated, bullshit rumour.
“I’m not a wealthy man, that’s what gets me. If there is a rort ... I hear that only happens in the corporate world.”
Ness v Capone
Unsurprisingly, Setka is not a fan of Mr Watson, a Sydney lawyer who specialises in institutional corruption. “He’s just a glory seeker,” Setka said. “He thinks he is Eliot Ness. At least Eliot Ness went after real criminals.”
Eliot Ness was the US law-enforcement officer who convicted Chicago gangster Al Capone for tax evasion in 1931.
Setka’s offered several other adjectives for Mr Watson, all preceded by word beginning with the letter F.
On November 11, around 6am, Setka was arrested at a two-bedroom apartment he rents in Footscray and charged with sending a threatening message to Mr Watson.
The lawyer published the message in his 139-page report. It said: “I warn you watson you should hope you never cross my path, so go and f..k your mum and (union administrator Mark) Irving’s, and leave me alone, you f..kin fat ugly c..t.”
The police filmed Setka’s arrest and shared the footage with media outlets. Setka said his address could be identified, and he fears for his life after being warned by a police motor-cycle gang taskforce that his “life was in grave danger”.
The reason for the threat, he said, is bikies blamed him when they were expelled from construction sites, even though he wasn’t responsible.
“I just feel violated,” Setka said. “The whole world knows where I live. I can’t sleep. I’m going to sleep therapy. ”
In his evidence last week, Mr Watson implied Setka had done something to upset industry rivals.
“What did he do which made him susceptible to threats from bikies?” he said “There’s violence all over the place. If you think that is bad, the people who were talking to me were terrified and they had reason to be terrified and I know a lot more about that which I cannot go into because it would have the potential to identify the people.”
He said he drives different cars, changes routes, wears hats and swaps gyms for his protection.
A spokesperson for the Victoria Police declined to comment, citing prohibitions on disclosing personal information.
Contacted Friday morning, Mr Watson said he didn’t want to respond to the criticism from Mr Setka. He has completed his work on the union and plans to pursue work elsewhere, including university lecturing. His mother is dead.
His report continues to rock Victorian politics. Long-time Melbourne radio broadcaster Neil Mitchell predicted Ms Allan, the premier, might lose her seat. “What she has done this week is one of the most disgraceful things I have seen,” he said on radio 3AW. “It is almost like they are going into bat for the CFMEU.”
On Thursday a director of the giant CFMEU-affiliated CBUS superannuation fund, Lucy Weber, resigned after it was revealed she was appointed to the board when her secret boyfriend, Zac Smith, was the union’s national secretary.
The lawyer appointed to run the CFMEU, Mark Irving, is considering disciplining Setka under the CFMEU rules, potentially including expulsion, which would make him ineligible to stand for any union office.
In the meantime, Setka does not have a job, but receives workers compensation for stress.
