The sky was a blanket of unrelenting grey and large droplets clung to the leaves of the red flowering gums lining the road in Melbourne’s west as a thickset man with thinning hair scrolled through his mobile phone.
asserted
man → cling → phone
Australia’s most powerful union leader wanted advice.
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leader → want → advice
If anyone knew how to navigate bad press and criminal allegations it was Domenic “Mick” Gatto.
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it → know → press
Any other union or political leader facing criminal accusations of stalking and terrorising their wife would have been penning their resignation letter.
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union → face → letter
But not the towering trade union chief now focused on his phone.
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chief → tower → phone
He was John Setka, son of a blue-collar worker who in 1970, when John was only six, had survived one of Australia’s worst industrial accidents.
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John → survive → accidents
John’s dad had ridden a slab of the West Gate Bridge as it plummeted through nearly 50 metres of icy Melbourne air.
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it → ride → air
The same slab of concrete and iron had claimed the lives of 35 others.
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slab → claim → others
Forty years after his father’s escape from death, John Setka had led tens of thousands of chanting protesters through Melbourne’s CBD, unfazed by the cops on horseback or those sweating on foot in their riot gear.
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Setka → lead → gear
In 2018, he had stormed out of the national conference of Australia’s oldest political party having labelled its former leader Kevin Rudd a “f---ing dog” and a “maggot” as the ex-prime minister was awarded his Labor Party life membership.
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minister → storm → membership
The rain was still falling, the sky growing ever greyer.
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sky → fall → ?
Setka knew his so-called union comrades were now judging him.
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comrades → know → him
Setka tapped furiously on his phone.
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Setka → tap → phone
“F--- these prim and proper people have never done it hard in the [sic] whole lives,” Setka texted his mate.
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Setka → do → mate
“I’m sick of all these squareheads trying to micro manage me and tell me who I can be seen with or who I can talk to.
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I → ’m → who
Yet when the shit hits the fan they’re nowhere to be seen.”
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they → hit → fan
Setka was finding his rhythm.
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Setka → find → rhythm
It is hard not to conclude he felt comfortable when he was raging which, of late, was more often than not.
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which → conclude → ?
He continued his message to Gatto: “F--- these people who should probably look up in the dictionary what mateship means.”
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mateship → continue → what
Setka’s fury had begun building days before when someone, probably a dirty cop or a grubby lawyer, leaked the details of the domestic violence case in early 2019 that had been lodged against him in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
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that → begin → Court
One of the police witnesses, a former female judicial officer who was friends with Emma Walters, Setka’s wife, had given a sworn statement describing how John’s “anger” toward Walters had left her feeling “extremely distressed”.
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anger → give → her
Walters had been repeatedly harassed and intimidated by Setka, the witness had said.
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witness → harass → Setka
The evidence extracted earlier from the phone Setka was now using to text Gatto was similarly damning.
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Setka → extract → Gatto
Police analysis had revealed that, on a single evening, he had rung Emma 25 times and sent her 45 text messages, calling her a “weak f---en piece of shit”, a “treacherous Aussie f---en c---” and a “f---en dog”.
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he → reveal → shit
When the police case had been splashed all over the front page of The Age, along with leaked disparaging comments Setka had made about anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty, the pile-on had begun.
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on → splash → Batty
It included Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus, who had publicly called for Setka to resign, asking him to consider that ‘no one is bigger than the movement’.
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one → include → movement
She opined: “While John is elected by his members, he also needs to consider the interests of working people and the wider union movement.”
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he → opine → people
According to McManus, Setka had left “the union movement’s reputation damaged”.
uncertain
Setka → accord → reputation
Australia’s largest unions, including those representing teachers, nurses and truck drivers, had publicly agreed and piled on too.
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unions → include → teachers
Senior Labor figures Anthony Albanese and then-Victorian premier Daniel Andrews weighed in, criticising Setka.
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figures → weigh → Setka
He was also fielding support, and not only from Mick Gatto.
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He → field → Gatto
It said something of Setka’s power and reach that it wasn’t just several of his male comrades offering him backroom support, but women too.
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it → say → support
Even when Albanese was the newly installed opposition leader and moved to turf Setka from the party, Setka’s phone had lit up with text messages from female federal and state Labor politicians and union figures.
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phone → instal → politicians
Victorian MP Bronwyn Halfpenny had assured Setka she was “thinking of you and hope everything will be OK”.
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everything → assure → you
She had texted: “You are a great comrade to working people so the establishment will always want to bring u down.
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establishment → texte → u
Rail, Tram and Bus Union secretary Luba Grigorovitch (now a state Labor MP and minister) had repeatedly sent messages of support, vowing to direct her union to back Setka.
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Grigorovitch → send → Setka
“We will get through this John xx,” she had promised.
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she → get → xx
Grigorovitch advised Setka to rely on the behind-the-scenes advice of communications expert and Labor political adviser Tanja Kovac, who also headed EMILY’s List, a group devoted to promoting ALP women into parliament.
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who → advise → parliament
Kovac had also texted Setka, telling him to craft his public messaging carefully.
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Kovac → texte → messaging
Setka had decided to plead guilty to a charge of harassment and breaching a family violence order, but Kovac warned Setka that he not only had to survive the Magistrates’ Court but the court of public opinion as well.
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Kovac → decide → opinion
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
