Senior mining union official Peter Jordan – whose union is part of the broader Construction,Forestry,Maritime,Mining&Energy Union – said Mr Setka should have stood down when previously convicted of harassing Ms Walters in 2019.

“His behaviour to women is disgraceful,” he said on Twitter. “He should be sacked. There is no room in leadership of a trade union or society generally for such behaviour. I’m disgusted but not surprised.”

Mr Jordan’s mining division is seeking to leave the broader union as part of the fallout from Mr Setka’s conduct.

NSW Labor assistant general secretary George Simon described Mr Setka’s alleged conduct as abhorrent. “There is no place for John Setka in the labour movement.”

The union’s national construction division secretary Dave Noonan declined to comment,as did the Victorian Trades Hall Council. Senior CFMMEU officials Chris Cain and Michael Ravbar did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2019,Mr Setka was convicted of harassing Ms Walters and breaching court orders after more than 25 calls and 45 text messages in which he called her a “weak f---en piece of s---” and a “treacherous Aussie f---en c---” and a “f---en dog”.

At the time,he resisted pressure from many in Labor and the union movement to resign from his CFMEU role but received support from the construction division and parts of the Victorian union movement. Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari was filmed in mid-2019 chanting “John Setka here to stay”.

In his statement Mr Setka alleged that when police arrived on Wednesday night Ms Walters “had no injuries,nor did she claim any”. He said the allegations against him were “false” and “fabricated”.

Ms Walters said that when police first arrived she did not disclose the assault. “There was a lot going on,I was upset and my kids were within earshot and I wanted to protect them,” her statement said.

She made a sworn statement to police the next day of the alleged assault. Images of her head injury over several days show the bruise becoming progressively more visible from quite faint to pronounced.

She had “grave concerns for my physical safety and that of my children and the police are aware of this,” her statement said. “John has repeatedly told me in the past that I am a ... ‘piece of shit’ and that he would come after me if I made a statement to the police.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews declined to comment as did federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese,federal Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash and senior CFMMEU official Michael O’Connor.

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