Absolutely outrageous protesters werent union says Setka

Union boss John Setka has labelled protests at the CFMEU’s head office that led to windows being smashed, projectiles getting thrown at senior officials, and riot police using rubber bullets to disperse the crowd “absolutely outrageous”, while former opposition leader Bill Shorten went further, dismissing agitators as “hard-right man-baby Nazis”.

A CFMEU protester in Melbourne on Monday. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Speaking on Radio National, Mr Setka said the protests were hijacked by “professional protesters” and that union members were only a small minority of those involved.

“They weren’t the majority there, there was a small minority of construction workers there, some of them when it all got violent they just walked away from it. It was hijacked by the professional protesters, wherever they go, they just want to pick a fight.

“They’re not even union members, they’re not members of our union. And that’s a disappointing thing and to see these people hurl projectiles and other people smashing in property it’s just absolutely disgusting.”

Mr Shorten said he believed protesters deserved to face the full force of the law.

“There is a network of hard-right man-baby Nazis, just people who just want to cause trouble, these man-babies, they want to complain about the vaccination, and it’s just - they deserve to get the full force of everything that’s coming their way,” Mr Shorten said on Today.

The Andrews government formally announced the two-week shutdown of the construction industry late on Monday night, less than three hours before the closure was to begin at 11.59pm.

Construction workers have been protesting against vaccine mandates in the industry and a ban on tea rooms, prompted by a number of COVID-19 cases being linked to construction sites.

Mr Setka said the union wanted the workforce vaccinated, but stopped short of supporting the government’s mandatory vaccination edict.

“We’re pro-vaccine, we’ve run radio ads encouraging our members to get vaccinated because as far as we’re concerned, we think that’s the road map out of this lockdown because we can’t stay in lockdown for forever and a day,” Mr Setka said.

“So, so we made our position quite clear but at the same time, we understand there are people, because of the misinformation or for whatever reason, are fearful of it, you know, we’ve got an address that you just can’t just throw these people out to the wolves.”

Australia’s chief trade unionist, Sally McManus, said on Sunrise that encouraging people towards vaccination would work better than mandating shots.

“In areas that you have to bring in mandatory vaccinations, and it is [done] so quickly without giving people a chance to get to where we have in parts of the country - over 80 per cent [first dose] - you create a space for people to stir things up, to divide people,” Ms McManus said.

All projects in metropolitan Melbourne, City of Ballarat, City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Mitchell Shire will be shuttered, with limited exempts for workers to attend closed sites to respond emergencies or perform urgent and essential work to protect health and safety.

Some critical infrastructure works, such as hospitals and some ongoing level crossing removal projects, will continue during the shutdown.

The union, builders and senior Andrews government officials had been locked in meetings on Monday to stop the building sector from grinding to a halt, with the CFMEU threatening to walk off major projects if a compromise couldn’t be reached.

-with Ben Schneiders, Paul Sakkal and Broede Carmody

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