The CFMEU expels John Setka for five years and says it wants $3.3 million back. He says he will see them in court

John Setka, who led the CFMEU’s Victorian construction branch for more than a decade, has been expelled from the union with immediate effect.

The administration overseeing the union’s construction division announced the decision on Wednesday afternoon, eastern Australian time. It said Setka faced 27 charges under the union’s disciplinary rules and alleged he had failed in his duty as secretary by diverting $3.3 million in revenue from union merchandise and site vending machines to his companies.

The expulsion runs for five years, which the administration described as the legal maximum.

Administrator Michael Crosby said the union would keep pursuing Setka to recover the money. “John Setka’s conduct is shameful,” he said, adding that Setka had failed in the most basic duty of a union official, to put members first.

The administration said Setka had not responded to it about the allegations. It did not publish details of how the money is alleged to have moved.

What does Setka say?

Setka rejects the allegations outright. He called them lies and defamatory, said he had never taken a dollar of union members’ money, and said he would go to court to appeal the decision.

“I will be going to court,” he said on Wednesday.

The allegations are the administration’s claims under internal union rules. No court has made any finding about them.

Why does a merchandise stall matter?

Union merchandise and vending machines on building sites are small, everyday businesses, selling to workers on shift. Added together, the administration says, the revenue reached $3.3 million.

That is the point Crosby made: the claim is not about wages or strike funds, but about who collected the revenue from the union’s own brand.

How did the union get here?

Setka stepped down as secretary in July 2024 after a run of allegations about the union’s conduct. A month later, the federal government placed the CFMEU’s construction arm into administration, following claims that bikie and organised crime figures had infiltrated parts of the union.

Since then, administrators rather than elected officials have run the division. Setka, 62, has been a public critic of the administration.

This week, CFMEU representatives began giving evidence in the first block of public hearings of the Victorian royal commission into alleged corruption on the state government’s Big Build construction projects.

What does an expulsion actually do?

Expulsion means Setka cannot hold membership of the union, and so cannot stand for or hold any position in it, for five years. It does not settle the money claim. Recovering any funds would be a separate step, and the administration has said it intends to take it.

What happens next

Setka says he will appeal in court. The administration says it will pursue him for the $3.3 million. The Big Build royal commission’s public hearings continue this week.

VNN will update this story as more is confirmed.