Federal Employment Minister Eric Abetz won over the crowd at the 2014 Master Builders Members Conference by praising builders, sympathising and sharing a laugh with them.

“We as a government know that it is our job to set the overarching policy but it is people like you that actually create jobs,” Mr Abetz said.

“Thank you for the work you do in this State.”

He went on to criticise the Carbon Tax, which he said collects $7 billion every year.

“If every dollar of that money was spent by employers on employing people, that’s 60,000 more jobs right there,” he said.

“As an aside, I should note that speeches to Master Builders Victoria by Coalition politicians have often unforeseen consequences,” Mr Abetz said.

“When the now Prime Minister addressed this gathering, he later found himself sued for defamation by John Setka. I hadn’t intended to make any comments about Mr Setka today, other than to observe that his two best mates at the moment appear to be Mick Gatto and Daniel Andrews,” he quipped.

In sympathising with the crowd, Mr Abetz noted that Master Builders endure the most “adversarial and underworked” construction industry, as quoted by research from Davis Langdon.

“The evidence is clear and undeniable, there has been no correlation between more generous workplace conditions and more harmonious workplaces,” he said.

“Could I just ask you to reflect that each time one gives in to this culture, you embolden, strengthen and feed that very culture.”

Mr Abetz noted that the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) had a benefit of $6 billion per year for the construction industry.

“People regularly reported to the Government that, for the first time in years, they looked forward to coming to work each day to actually build things, rather than dreading facing another day full of the sort of belligerent pettiness that so often characterises the industry,” he said.

“It’s critical we restore the ABCC.”

Mr Abetz flagged a new Building Code that he promised would reflect the rigour of the previous code and guidelines introduced by the Howard Government.

“While workplace safety must always be of paramount importance to the building industry, so too must the rule of law,” he said.

“The law needs to be enforced, whenever it is broken.”

Mr Abetz highlighted the failings of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) in being found guilty of contempt of court during the Grocon Emporium dispute and ongoing claims of corruption.

“If any self-respecting company, private organisation, or for that matter, political party, was faced with allegations of ongoing and systematic corruption and thuggery within its ranks, they would take appropriate action to reform themselves,” Mr Abetz said.

“Let me make it very clear to Dave Noonan and anyone else who continues to deny the undeniable. If they won’t do what is necessary to clean up their union, then it will inevitably fall to others to do so.”

To view the full speech given by Eric Abetz, click here.