The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union leader is due in Melbourne Magistrates court on January 9 after being charged with a court order offence.

Police attended a West Footscray home on December 26 after "reports of an argument" where the 54-year-old was arrested and charged, before he was bailed.

The matter is in the hands of Victoria Police's Westgate Family Violence Investigation Unit.

"For well over thirty years now I have dedicated my life to the health and well-being of construction workers and their families, and on more occasions than I care to remember, my passion and bluntness has landed me in the headlines and not always for the right reasons," Mr Setka said in a statement posted online with the union's letterhead on Wednesday night.

"Over the last three years my wife Emma and my children David, Kate and Johnny have suffered immensely from the ongoing political and ideological attacks on myself as a union leader, with the possibility of losing their husband and father to a prison sentence.

"This has been an extremely enormous strain on our family unit and it has taken it's toll on each of us as individuals.

"I ask that while family members are seeking to recover from this tumultuous period in their personal lives that they are given the privacy to do so."

Australian Associated Press