"Today I met and had a long and frank discussion with John Setka," Ms McManus said.

"I told him it is in the best interests of the union movement that he resigns.

"I have consulted a wide range of union leaders and they share this view.

"There are several matters currently before the court. If media reports are correct the allegations John is facing are serious. I also note that yesterday John said he would plead guilty to charges of harassing a woman using a carriage service.

"I have previously said that if these allegations are correct they are totally unacceptable."

"The union movement's reputation has been damaged," she said.

Acknowledging the support Mr Setka had from his own members, Ms McManus said "no-one is bigger than the movement".

"We are all custodians of our unions ... leaders come and go and our job is to do our best for our members ... and sometimes you need to consider the bigger interest of what is in the interest of the broader trade movement and not the interest of shop stewards," she said.

Ms McManus said the government had capitalised on the opportunity provided by the controversy to push through legislation that would enable it to deregister law-breaking unions and ban officials for misconduct.

Ms McManus acknowledged the ACTU had no way to remove Mr Setka but said if he did not resign it ''will cross that bridge when we come to it''.

After his meeting with Ms McManus, Mr Setka told reporters he did not intend to resign.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor confirmed on Wednesday that the re-elected Coalition government would use its increased majority in the lower house and a newly constituted Senate to launch a fresh crackdown on unions by seeking to pass its failed Ensuring Integrity Bill.

"We will bring it forward again and the right answer here is for Labor, for Anthony Albanese, to work with us to put this legislation through the Parliament," Mr Taylor told reporters in Canberra.

The bill would need the support of at least four crossbench senators to pass into law, as Labor and the Greens have previously blocked it.

Tony Burke, Labor's industrial relations spokesperson, said: "The detail of the bill that was introduced in 2017 didn't even match the Government's own description of it.’’

‘’I presume if they're going to introduce a bill with that title again, they'll change the detail and we'll look at it then."

A source close to the government said the bill would be treated as "a priority", but it remains unclear whether it will be debated in the first week of the new Parliament, which sits from July 2.

The Ensuring Integrity Bill seeks to implement recommendations of the Trade Union Royal Commission to enable the Federal Court to ban union leaders from holding office if they break the law, repeatedly fail to stop their organisation from doing so or are "not a fit and proper person".

Since holding his media conference on Wednesday Mr Setka has received public support from the NSW branch of his union, the Electrical Trades Union in Victoria and Maritime Union senior official Chris Cain.

Other large unions including the Australian Services Union and United Voice have said if the allegations against him are correct he should resign.

The NSW president of the CFMMEU, Rita Mallia, offered support for Mr Setka on Thursday. Ms Mallia said she was at the meeting where Setka had discussed Ms Batty.

"John candidly spoke of this personal experience and the ordeal of his family. In the course of that John spoke of the understanding he now had of men who are unable to tell their side of the story because of changes to the system,’’ she said.

"At no time did he cast blame for this on Ms Rosie Batty.’’

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Saturday that Mr Setka had said Ms Batty’s advocacy had left men with fewer rights. It did not report he had criticised the domestic violence campaigner.

Mr Albanese again defended his call to seek to expel Mr Setka from the Labor Party amid criticism from those who believe the comments about Ms Batty were taken out of context.

"The comments are very clear ... whether he argues that they were misinterpreted or not," Mr Albanese told ABC Radio National on Thursday morning.

"Mr Setka did mention Rosie Batty and did mention [her] in the context of his own legal case ... It's before the courts and I don't intend to go into detail."

Mr Albanese said that while he had not picked up the phone to speak to Mr Setka, "I did speak to people who were at that meeting."