Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has known about John Setka’s and the CFMEU’s corruption for decades as has all federal and state politicians from all parties.
John Setka, former CFMEU Victorian Secretary, and the CFMEU have been up to their necks in corruption for decades and the real scandal with the latest reports of their corruption is the fake surprise by Labor and Liberal politicians and senior Union officials.
To prove the point, lets have a quick look at some of my reporting of The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption which ran from 2014 to 2015.
In 2014 while reporting on the Trade Union Royal Commission, I published an article titled “CFMEU secretary John Setka accused of blackmail by Boral CEO Mike Kane. Read the allegations here” which starts off:
Mike Kane the CEO of Boral gave evidence today at the Royal Commission and he did not hold back with allegations of blackmail and other criminal offences against John Setka and the CFMEU (Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union) of which Mr Setka is Victorian State Secretary. Mr Kane also alleged there was a conspiracy by certain parties that has allowed Mr Setka and the CFMEU to get away with criminal conduct.
Mike Kane’s allegations in the witness box were as per his written statement to the Trade Union Royal Commission. His statement is a must read for all voters as one of the biggest companies in Australia is being blackmailed by a Labor Party supported union and no one does anything. (Click here to read the full statement) How and why the police and others have not acted is disgraceful. (Click here to read the full article)
In November 2014 I published an article titled “Bill Shorten’s Crime Gang recommended for criminal charges by Barrister assisting Royal Commission” which starts off:
Criminal charges have been recommended against at least 15 people in submissions by Jeremy Stoljar SC who is the barrister assisting the Royal Commission. Fairing the worst is Bill Shorten’s Crime Gang at the HSU Victorian Number 1 Branch where 7 people have been recommended for criminal charges.
This along with other revelations by the Royal Commission is a major embarrassment for Mr Shorten and will loosen his grip on power within the Labor Party.
and:
But the big story is really how many people are facing possible jail time. While Stoljar might not make everyone happy there is a long list of people he has recommended that should face criminal charges for perjury, fraud and blackmail etc.
List of Union Officials & Cbus employees looking at jail time published by Royal Commission #turc
HSU Victorian Number 1 Branch: Secretary Diana Asmar – General Manager Kimberley Kitching – Union Organiser David Eden – Union Organiser Darryn Rowe – Union Organiser Lee Atkinson – Union Organiser Sasha Trajcevski-Uzunov – Union Organiser Nick Katsis – The alleged offences relate to giving false information when they applied for Right of Entry Permits (Click here to read more)
HSU: Kathy Jackson (Obtaining property or a financial advantage by deception – Which is fraud at the end of the day) (Click here to read) And for other allegations (Click here)
CFMEU: Victorian Secretary John Setka (Blackmail charges) Shaun Reardon Victorian Assistant State Secretary (Blackmail or at least accessory to Blackmail) (Click here to read more) NSW Secretary Brian Parker (Perjury) (Click here to read)
Cbus: Industry Superannuation Fund – Lisa Zanatta (Perjury) Maria Butera (Perjury) (Click here to read)
AWU: Bruce Wilson (Fraud) Ralph Blewitt (Fraud) (Click here to read more)
There is still a long way to go and Heydon’s Interim Report is what really matters. (Click here to read the full article)
The articles quoted from above are from 2014 and the Royal Commission also continued in 2015 and a final report was published in December 2015. (Click here to read more)
What everyone knew from 11 years ago exposed at the Trade Union Royal Commission
So, from just 2 of the many articles I have written about the Trade Union Royal Commission we can see that in 2014 it was publicly known that John Setka and the CFMEU branches in Victoria and NSW were up to their necks in corruption.
So much so the Royal Commission recommended criminal charges against CFMEU staff of: Victorian Secretary John Setka (Blackmail charges) Shaun Reardon Victorian Assistant State Secretary (Blackmail or at least accessory to Blackmail) (Click here to read more) NSW Secretary Brian Parker (Perjury) (Click here to read)
The Trade Union Royal Commission also recommended criminal charges against close associates of federal MP Bill Shorten at the HSU Victorian Number 1 Branch.
The same HSU Victorian Number 1 Branch which the Fair Work Commission announced in February 2022 were under investigation for allegations of “misconduct concerning the financial affairs of the Branch”. (Click here to read more)
The same HSU Victorian Number 1 Branch that I wrote about in February 2015 “Bill Shorten’s supporters involved in multi-million-$ fraud at the HSU” and August 2015 “The real Bill Shorten, Kathy Jackson HSU fraud story. Where’s the missing $15million?” and February 2016 “Bill Shorten’s supporters given warning by federal authority to stop stealing from HSU members“.
And in July 2015 I published an article titled “Bill Shorten’s mystery woman. His spy in the Police Minister’s office and the links to the HSU fraud“.
And again the same HSU Victorian Number 1 Branch, that changed it’s name to the Victorian Health Workers Union, that the SMH reported in February 2024 is:
“being investigated over allegations it secretly funnelled union money into a training organisation that an anti-corruption commission previously found was an abject failure, and paying its secretary Diana Asmar for non-union-related work at the organisation.”
“The Fair Work Commission has been scrutinising the finances of the Health Workers Union (HWU), the conduct of Asmar who has been accused of misusing her position at the union to gain financial advantage, and the union’s longtime accountant Stannards.” (Click here to read more)
Latest reports of alleged corruption by John Setka, the CFMEU and others
Nine Entertainment’s The Age, The SMH, The Financial Review and 60 Minutes show started reporting last weekend on the latest corruption by John Setka, the CFMEU and others.
On Saturday the 13th of July 2024 the SMH published an article titled: “Building bad: How bikies, underworld have become a construction industry ‘cancer’” which starts off:
Underworld figures and bikies have infiltrated major Victorian and NSW construction projects, with some securing jobs as CFMEU delegates and secret surveillance exposing the involvement of notorious gangsters in the industry.
A months-long investigation by The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, AFR and 60 Minutes has uncovered unprecedented details of senior bikie figures and criminals being parachuted into lucrative union roles, with the problems extending to the Indigenous employment sector.
In the face of repeated questioning about the explosive allegations, powerful CFMEU construction union boss John Setka resigned late on Friday. (Click here to read more)
On Wednesday the 17th of July 2024 The SMH published an article titled “The CFMEU boss, a wad of cash and a hidden camera: New pictures reveal covert police operation” which starts off:
A police camera hidden in the ceiling of the CFMEU’s Sydney office allegedly captured NSW construction union boss Darren Greenfield being passed a $5000 bundle of cash as part of a suspected kickback deal involving money traded for union backing.
The vision was filmed on June 19, 2020, and appears to show a building company owner seeking union support reach into his pocket and remove a wad of cash he then passes to Greenfield under the table.
About 10 minutes later, the camera captured images of Greenfield allegedly placing the wad in his office desk drawer.
The vision was filmed as part of a joint NSW Police and Australian Federal Police operation targeting Greenfield. The operation led to him being charged with corruption offences in September 2021. His son, Michael Greenfield, the NSW CFMEU’s assistant secretary, was also charged.
While many leaders in the union movement anticipated Greenfield would step aside as the CFMEU’s NSW secretary when he was charged with serious corruption offences – which are still before the court system and are yet to be tested before a jury – he refused to do so and has continued to wield considerable industrial power in the state. (Click here top read the full article)
At the Trade Union Royal Commission in 2014:
Mr Greenfield faced allegations of taking cash payments from construction underworld figure George Alex.
After hearing allegations that the CFMEU received a weekly kickback of $2500 from labour-hire companies linked to Mr Alex, the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption produced a string of text messages from Mr Alex’s phone referring to cash payments of that same amount being left under his toilet sink.
Mr Greenfield strongly denied suggestions he had picked up any cash payments from Mr Alex’s home, saying he had only ever picked up documents from a drawer in Mr Alex’s toilet.
He denied any knowledge of a payment of $2500 “for Darren” which was referred to in a text message from Mr Alex to his wife Nectaria Alex, on April 24, 2013.
Mr Greenfield also denied allegations before the royal commission in 2014 that he had made death threats against his former union colleague, Brian Fitzpatrick.
Counsel assisting the royal commission, Jeremy Stoljar, submitted that Mr Greenfield should face criminal charges for the alleged offence of using a phone to make a death threat. But no charges were laid. (Click here to read the full article)
Summary
The key point to the above is that John Setka, Darren Greenwood, the CFMEU, Diana Asmar and others all had criminal allegations and criminal charges recommended against them at The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in 2014 and 2015 and they again have criminal allegations and/or criminal charges recommended against them now.
The history is important because a Conga line of politicians and Union official such as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, ACTU Secretary Sally McManus, Federal Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke and Bill Shorten etc who are playing the dummy game and claiming it wasn’t until the latest reporting that they had any idea about the Union corruption.
Everyone who is playing the dummy game are lying like no tomorrow. They all knew but shut their mouths and they have all known since at least 2014 and many, if not most, long before that.
On Wednesday the 17th of July 2024 the SMH reported:
An independent administrator will be appointed to take control of the disgraced CFMEU construction union after days of alarm over allegations of criminal infiltration.
Federal Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke announced the move at a press conference in Canberra on Wednesday, responding to a series of reports in this masthead and The Australian Financial Review.
and:
Burke paid tribute to the investigations by this masthead and The Australian Financial Review in providing new information that prompted the intervention.
“There is no doubt that new information has emerged in recent days and over the last week, the work of [journalist] Nick McKenzie in particular, that the whole team around that has been extraordinary. And so there is no doubt that the evidence that we are dealing with now is quite different to what was publicly available.”
Burke said he had not heard of any links with organised crime before last week. (Click here to read more)
Tony Burke has no shame to openly lie saying “he had not heard of any links with organised crime before last week”. Everyone has known for years and currently at least Darren Greenfield and his son Michael Greenfield are facing criminal charges and Diana Asmar in under investigation for fraud etc.
Yet Burke claims he only found out last week about ‘any links with organised crime”. Is Burke saying “crime” in the Unions is OK and it’s just the “organised crime” he objects to?
The Liberal Party and National Parties have nowhere to hide
The Liberal Party and National Party won the 2013 federal election and set up the The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption which ran from 2014 to 2015 and the Liberal / National coalition stayed in power until 2022. So, most of the corruption since 2014/2015 has happened on their watch.
The reality is the Trade Union Royal Commission, like most Royal Commission’s, was for the then government to look like they were doing something, but it achieved very little.
Although it must be noted that the Trade Union Royal Commission did name people, their alleged crimes and the evidence to support it which is now valuable as those same people are exposed being involved in the same corruption and crimes 10 years later. And that is more than the Robodebt Royal Commission did.
Once the Trade Union “show trial” was over the Liberal Party and National Party went back to working on ways to rip off the public purse for their mates which Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and others excelled at.
The Liberal and Nationals jumping up and down now about Union corruption is just for show. They need to answer what they were doing for the 10 years they were in power from 2013 until 2022.
The Unions and Labor Party
The Union movement have a huge influence over the Labor Party and the Labor politicians are happy to turn a blind eye to corruption in the Union movement because a lot of MPs are, or have been, involved in the Union corruption or need Union support to keep their political job.
My big mistake in my 2014 article I quoted from above where I said “This along with other revelations by the Royal Commission is a major embarrassment for Mr Shorten and will loosen his grip on power within the Labor Party.” was obviously wrong. Bill Shorten was Labor leader the time and stayed as leader until 2019 when Labor lost the federal election.
For some reason the Trade Union Royal Commission’s exposure of Union corruption and corruption by Bill Shorten actually strengthened his position within the Labor Party but almost certainly played at least some part in Bill Shorten and Labor losing the 2016 federal election and possibly the 2019 election as well.
Some have suggested the corruption has been an open secret within the Labor Party when the reality is it has been an open secret with anyone and everyone who follows politics.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his government have announced they will move to have an independent administrator appointed to the CFMEU.
Is the appointment of a CFMEU independent administrator motivated to clean up corruption in Unions or because there is a federal election less than 12 months away? If it’s motivated to clean up corruption, then why hasn’t the government taken any action against Bill Shorten’s mates at the Health Workers Union?
None of the major political parties have the stomach, ethics or integrity to deal with corruption long-term because the politicians are just as corrupt, if not more corrupt, then the people they are meant to make sure are held to account.
The politicians will stick a band-aid on corruption when it hits the media but as soon as the media storm has gone so does their conviction to deal with the corruption and that is why the corruption by the same people goes on and on and on as per above.
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Categories: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Albanese must be the only Australian living on the East Coast who was unaware of Setka’s criminality. Corruption occurs behind closed doors and neither party will stand witness against the other from fear or promise of reward. Follow the money, it filters UPWARDS.
The Murdoch Media Monopoly are very quick to damn trade unions but corruption by successive COALition pollies is rarely mentioned in the evening news. Think Robodebt, Hurley’s silver scam & Stuart Robert for many alleged offences.
It has to be the perfect place for corruption for it seems there is no place that can’t be appropriated for greed and personal gain. In a country of around 25 Million inhabitants it’s a grim reality that does not get due attention other than from folk like you KCA. Lucky Country! What an oxymoron.
Australia the convict colony, what’s changed?
I have just published a video on YouTube titled “Labor and Liberal Parties have both covered up Union corruption for decades” which is here: https://youtu.be/ozzJpz5jM8U
It’s all very well highlighting union corruption in the building industry but what about the other side of the coin — the builder’s. It takes 2 to tango!
All of his chickens are coming home to roost. he is not demonstrating to be the leader I once thought he may be.
The Trade Union Royal Commission was created by Tony Abbott and headed by Tony Abbott’s mentor Dyson Haydon, who was the worst appointment to the High Court since Sir Garfield Barwick. His behavior, as a geriatric Bruce Lehrmann, should have landed him in jail.
Setka is a crook working in a crook industry. Decades ago, a NSW Royal Commission set up by a Liberal Premier looked into the building industry and decided it was unfair to punish unionists while not punishing Master Builders.
Thanks, KCA. Good Article!
I sometimes just can’t keep up!