Leaked text messages reveal a network of Labor-linked women rallied around the fallen union leader over criminal harassment charges and his criticism of Rosie Batty’s domestic violence advocacy work.
Labor politicians and insiders sent private messages of support to former CFMEU boss John Setka as he dealt with domestic violence related offences and fallout from statements criticising the advocacy work of campaigner Rosie Batty.
The messages reveal Kovac helped Setka craft his public messaging strategy to ward off pressure to resign after it was revealed in mid-2019 that he had subjected his estranged wife to a campaign of harassment – including calling her a “weak f---en piece of shit” and a “treacherous Aussie f---en c---” and a “f---en dog”.
On 26 June, the day after he pleaded guilty and was fined $1000 in court, Kovac wished Setka “good luck” and urged him to “Be strong, genuine, sorry & the leader I know you are. Thinking of you Tanja.”Kovac, who had her own communications consultancy at the time, was previously chief of staff to the country’s first minister for preventing family violence Fiona Richardson, who helped establish the 2015 royal commission into domestic violence.
“Re cross-bench “we’re not allowed to campaign now; this is Australia?” Needed to be said. Lisa Chesters”, the text message reads.Her message was sent just days after then opposition leader Anthony Albanese had already labelled Setka’s comments “unacceptable” and out of step with Labor values.“My recollection of that specific text message was that it was in relation to a completely unrelated and industrial matter,” she said.
That same month, then-Rail Tram and Bus Union secretary Luba Grigorovitch – who in 2022 would become a state Labor MP with the CFMEU’s backing – repeatedly messaged Setka to offer him support and to tell him she was directing her union to back him amid the fallout from the domestic violence scandal. On 20 June, Kovac texted Setka that she “was chatting with Luba and I wanted to reach out to … discuss a couple of ideas I’ve shared with her about helping people/unions understand the pressures your family has been under and how that relates to the court cases and politics of all of this”.
A day later, on June 26, when he was about to plead guilty to charges of harassing Walters, Kovac messaged Setka “good luck” and advised him to be “strong, genuine, sorry & the leader I know you are. Thinking of you Tanja.”
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