The Labor Government in Australia is considering de-registering the nation’s construction union as the fallout from revelations about the union’s behaviour deepens.

In an interview with Patricia Karvelas on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Commonwealth Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Burke said that he had asked his department to advise him about actions which he could take in response to alleged behaviour of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

These include appointing administrators to different branches of the union or even deregistering the union.

“The extent of the criminal elements that have been there I find absolutely abhorrent, absolutely abhorrent.” Bourke said, referring to the allegations contained in Nine newspapers.

“And when I drove ‑ we’re in Canberra now ‑ when I drove down yesterday afternoon, I went straight to my office in Parliament House and signed a letter to the Secretary of my Department asking for advice. As these, you know, there’s more to come (in terms of alleged behaviour) from everything that we understand. I want advice on all the powers that I have with respect to what we’re seeing out of the construction division of the CFMEU, in particular Victoria, but I don’t know whether it’s going to broaden with the extra stories.

“As that advice comes in, I’m effectively going to be looking at three things: the advice on the extent of my powers, the allegations as they’re revealed, and finally the extent to which the union itself acts immediately and effectively. If they don’t, I will.”

Asked specifically which options are being considered, Bourke said that ‘everything is on the table’.

“I’ve sought advice on all my powers including that one (de-registering the union), including appointing administrators to the different branches. I’ve sought advice on all those powers, I’m not taking anything off the table.”

Asked specifically whether he would consider deregistration, Bourke replied “If it’s what needs to be done.”

Burke’s comments come as amid revelations which have been unveiled as part of a major investigation into the CFMEU’s behaviour between 60 Minutes and Nine Newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.

Those revelations have forced the resignation of John Setka, Secretary of the Union’s Victoria and Tasmania division.

Further revelations are expected to be unveiled in coming days.

As things stand, alleged behaviour includes:

• Setka engaging in a threatening night-time visit to the family home of a fellow union official to dump a suitcase scrawled with a message that attacked the official as a ‘dog’
• infiltration of the union by former leaders of bikie gangs and other underworld figures, who had allegedly used preferential union treatment for profit including on some major government funded infrastructure projects in New South Wales and Victoria; and
• use of standover tactics on Victoria Big Build projects, including threats to bash owners of a small indigenous labour hire company that was associated with the rival Australian Workers Union.

The allegations come as both the CFMEU in general and Setka in particular have been the subject of frequent controversy over a long period.

For many years, the union has been blasted by Federal Court judges over its persistent conduct of illegal behaviour on construction sites.

In 2019, Setka was also convicted of domestic violence offences against his estranged wife Emma Walters.

On Friday, the Union announced that Setka was stepping down as Secretary of the Victorian branch in response to persistent media reports about multiple allegations.

In a statement, Setka said that ‘malicious attacks’ and ‘ongoing false stories’ had been doing harm to the union and its work to serve its members.

Any move to deregister the CFMEU would not be the first time that a major building union has been deregistered in Australia.

In 1986, the then Hawke Labor Government deregistered that previous Building Labourers Federation amid allegations of bribery and corruption.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed Setka’s resignation.

Asked about the resignation on Friday, Albanese simply replied:

‘Good. John Setka has no legitimate place in the Labor movement.”

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