Unionists have walked out on federal Labor's deputy leader Richard Marles during the Victorian party's annual conference.
It comes after construction union boss John Setka lashed out at Labor leader Anthony Albanese for not attending the meeting in Melbourne.
Mr Setka on Saturday accused the federal opposition leader of turning his back on working-class Australians and tweeted he should "grow some balls".
Hours later, some delegates including from the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union walked out on Mr Albanese's deputy as he prepared to address the event.
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The stoush comes after Labor said it would boot Mr Setka from the party, but the union leader quit instead.
The CFMMEU official has been convicted of harassing his wife and accused of saying the work of anti-domestic violence advocate Rosie Batty meant men had fewer rights.
"Mr Albanese's ongoing lack of support for Australian workers further supports my decision to resign from the Australian Labor Party," Mr Setka said in a statement as Victorian Labor's conference got underway at Moonee Valley Racecourse on Saturday.
Mr Marles did not acknowledge the walk-out and paid tribute to the state's trade union.
He also spoke about Labor's crushing defeat in the May election and the federal party's recent post mortem about what went wrong.
The review found a cluttered policy agenda and former leader Bill Shorten's unpopularity was partly to blame.
"It was thorough and thoughtful. It gave us the answers to the questions about what went wrong and it contains within it the lessons that we must learn going forward," Mr Marles told the party faithful on Saturday.
He also paid tribute Mr Shorten, who was at the conference, saying he had been a unifying force who led the Labor movement "wonderfully".
