ABCC and coercive powers and he wants to talk about workers and the trade union movement.' Setka is known for his public condemnation of the ABCC and its staff. In 2017 he publicly threatened to target the home addresses of building watchdog inspectors and lobby local footy clubs so their "kids will be ashamed of who their parents are". These comments were controversial. On the other hand, he is regarded by many in the union movement, especially in the industrial left faction; to be a robust and genuine union activist. He has in the past had strong support from Luke Hilakari, among other prominent leaders in the trade union movement. In August 2022 a unanimous ballot at the South Australian branch of the CFMMEU brought about a co-operative administration arrangement between that branch, and the Victorian-Tasmanian division led by Setka. Blackmail charges In 2015 Setka was arrested and forced to appear in court to face blackmail charges. On the day of his court appearance, around 2,000 CFMEU members and other unionists gathered outside the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 8 December to show their support. Three years later, the Victorian prosecution office dropped the charges, a decision that the Magistrate Charles Rozecwajg described in court as 'very sensible. Setka spoke outside of court saying that he had been the victim of a witch hunt. He later sued a group of executives from the company Boral, successfully obtaining a settlement after alleging they conspired in the tort of malicious prosecution. Expulsion from Labor In June 2019 John attended a meeting of his union's national executive. It was reported by The Age that during that meeting, he made comments to the effect that the work of Rosie Batty had left men with fewer rights. Setka publicly denied that he made the comments. Following the reporting of these comments, the Australian Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese proposed to expel Setka from the Labor Party. John publicly objected to this attempt at expulsion, and claimed that there was "dirty politics at work". He made an implicit claim that he was the victim of a witch hunt, driven by his "view of where the union should be in regards to the ALP, and some people probably don't share that view". Reactions to John's behavior and his potential expulsion were mixed. The CFMEU Victoria branch (that he controlled) threatened to cut financial support to the ALP if