The mining union’s boss has dismissed as doomed to fail a threat by other blue-collar unions to splinter the 97-year-old Australian Council of Trade Unions by forming a rival lobby group to support rogue elements of the lawbreaking CFMEU.

Mining and Energy Union president Tony Maher condemned recent attacks on ACTU leaders Michele O’Neil and Sally McManus, who revealed earlier this week she had been moving between homes because of security threats linked to a crackdown on the construction union.