Episodes
Episodes
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Episode 244 - Part 3 - Scot Gary Todd
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Gary travelled the globe for 30 years interviewing boxing's select world champions. Throughout this time, he has gained a unique insight into the world of boxing and training routines. He shared gyms with the best of the best & watched the pros at work first-hand.
His books can help you reshape your body and will inspire you to take your workouts to the next level.
His latest book, Annie's Boy, is a coming of age story about growing up in Dundee, Scotland, in the '70s & '80s.
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Friday Feb 16, 2024
Episode 243 - CFMEU - John Setka
Friday Feb 16, 2024
Friday Feb 16, 2024
John Setka (born September 1964) is an Australian trade unionist.
He is secretary of the Victorian-Tasmanian division of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, and Energy Union which also administers the South Australian division under a temporary arrangement.
He is a controversial figure in the Australian trade union movement. He is known for his strong support at a grassroots level, especially among the rank and file of the CFMMEU. His supporters regard him as a strong advocate against political, legal, and industrial opponents; the national secretary of the union, Christy Cain has called him one of the "most fair dinkum union people in this country".
On the other hand, Setka's political opponents have derided him as a bully, and criticized his purported stance that it can be necessary to break the law to pursue union interests. He has also faced strong criticism for alleged public remarks on the topic of domestic violence, and a guilty plea for harassing his ex-wife via text, issues that contributed to his formal expulsion from the Australian Labor Party in 2019.
In recent years Setka's personal life has been the subject of considerable media attention. His marital breakdown, and associated legal issues, have led to additional public criticism.
John Setka was born to a Croatian family. His father was a labourer named Bob Setka, who survived the West Gate Bridge collapsein 1970, one of the worst industrial accidents caused by employer negligence in Victoria's history.
Setka began working as a labourer at the age of 19. He began involvement with trade unionism first after joining the Builders Labourers Federation. He was mentored by state secretary John Cummins.
Under John's leadership, media commentators have noted the "pervasive power of the CFMEU over construction companies".
In 2012 he unsuccessfully attempted to sue the opposition leader Tony Abbott in defamation after Abbott called him a thug.
In 2015, Setka encouraged workers within the Rail, Tram and Bus Union to strike during the Australian Football League finals to "use finals fever to their advantage in their bitter industrial fight with Metro Trains and Yarra Trams". The decision was criticised by Victorian Labor minister Jacinta Allan due to the strike's impact on businesses.
Setka openly criticised the former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2018. During a speech, he said: 'he's one of the worst fucking Labor PMs we've ever had ... (because) ... he kept the 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.
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 regard 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 he was expelled. The NSW and WA branches also expressed their support. Numerous politicians, as well as the ACTU secretary Sally McManus called on John to step down.
Additional pressure upon John arose after the Senate crossbencher Jacqui Lambie threatened political blackmail, making a demand that he steps down or she would vote for a bill strongly opposed by the union movement. This threat was made during a lunch invitation at her Tasmanian house.
In the midst of these events, John pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to harass a person in the Melbourne magistrate's court. The victim was identified as his wife at the time, Emma Walters. Following this, more than a dozen individual unions, including the three biggest in the country, renewed their calls for Setka to step aside. Some factional allies of Setka, like the then head of the RTBU Luba Grigorovitch , maintained their support.
In July, John applied for an injunction at the Victorian Supreme Court to stop the expulsion decision. He argued at court that the ALP national executive didn't have the legal power to expel him, and that it was instead a matter for the Victorian State party branch. The court decided in August 2019 that the motion to expel Mr. Setka was 'outside the court's jurisdiction', and that it 'could not interfere with internal decisions of voluntary unincorporated associations'. In October he commenced an appeal of this decision, before withdrawing. After its withdrawal, the ALP immediately expelled him.
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Episode 242 - Part 4 - Forensic Psychologist Tim Watson-Munro
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Tim Watson-Munro (born 1952/1953) is an Australian criminal Psychologist. His expertise has been used in some of Australia's biggest criminal trials. He has analysed some of Australia's most prolific and violent criminals, including underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano and mass murderer Julian Knight. His work involves determining whether those charged with acts of extreme violence are legally insane. Watson-Munro is regularly called upon to provide expert evidence in court and in the media.
Early Life
Born 1952/1953, Watson-Munro has described being raised in a "privileged academic environment". His father was a professor of physics, and his mother was a scientist. He was initially educated at Sydney Grammar School, where he left to work in a lumber yard. Watson-Munro later returned to a different school to complete his secondary education. He then went on to study psychology at the University of Sydney.
Career
Watson-Munro is described by The Herald Sun as one of Australia's leading and distinguished criminal psychologists. In 1978, he began his career at Paramatta Jail. He then went into private practice. He has assessed over 30,000 people in his career, including 200 murderers. Watson-Munro's primary role when assessing criminals is to determine whether they are legally insane. Three notable individuals Watson-Munro has worked with included Julian Knight, Alphonse Gagitano, and Mr Cruel.
Watson-Munro was the psychologist responsible for assessing and working with Julian Knight after he carried out the 1987 Hoddle Street massacre, killing seven people and leaving 19 injured. Watson-Munro states that the marksmanship during the massacre suggested clear thinking on the part of Knight.
Watson-Munro was assigned to treat deceased Melbourne underworld figure Alphonse Gangitano shortly after his arrest for allegedly murdering petty criminal Gregory Workman. Gangitano was released after the prosecution dropped all charges relating to the arrest after a key witness left the country. Watson-Munro expected Gangitano not to pursue treatment. However, shortly after his release, Gangitano contacted him for an appointment, and treatment continued. Watson-Munro has written that Gangitano had a degree of "intellectual prowess", and that his time with Gangitano demonstrated to him that even career criminals can have "other lives that are seemingly quite normal".
"Mr Cruel" is a pseudonym for the never-identified suspect of several child rapes and the murder of Karmein Chan in Melbourne during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Watson-Munro was contracted by Victoria Police during their investigation to profile the potential offender.
Views
Watson-Munro is an advocate of educating and informing victims of crime about their rights to compensation and treatment.
Watson-Munro in 1996 voiced concerns that the child welfare system in Victoria was in "chaos and on the brink of collapse". He noted truancy and crime being committed by children in the care of the state and called for a royal commission into the government department responsible. Watson-Munro was involved in assessing a 14-year-old boy who, while wandering around at night, murdered a taxi driver.
Watson-Munro has criticised a proposal to ban songs with suicidal themes as "censorship gone mad". He considers such proposals well intentioned, but that real issues of youth suicide in Australia need addressing, such as socio-economic circumstances.
Watson-Munro has stated that individuals who consume true crime media and are socially isolated, mentally ill, or young can become desensitised to violence and gore. He stated, "I think there is a nexus between that and people viewing this material and becoming desensitised to it or wanting to see what it is like".
Controversy
In 1999, Watson-Munro pleaded guilty to using and possessing cocaine. He was fined $1,000 and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond, a non-custodial sentence of good behaviour. He was later that year reprimanded by the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria on two counts of unprofessional misconduct after being found to have formed a personal relationship with a female client. In June 2000, the Board refused his re-registration as a psychologist. In 2002, the Board again found it not in the public interest to allow Watson-Munro to practice. Watson-Munro has described the years preventing him from running a clinical practice as "the greatest challenge [he] ever faced". In 2003, Watson-Munro regained registration as a psychologist, on the basis he undertook supervision for a period of two years.
Personal Life
Watson-Munro's first wife Susan, died of cancer. He is now married to his second, Carla. He is the father of five children.
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024