CFMEU members protest outside a construction site in 2012. Credit:AFR In his letter, Mr Raunik said Mr Hadgkiss launched a propaganda campaign with the support of the Master Builders Association "that sought to portray our entire industry as being corrupt, overpaid, unproductive and infiltrated and controlled by organised crime". "I would argue that the vast majority of industry participants and the industry generally, particularly in Melbourne, are smart, efficient, hardworking and innovative, and our sites are more productive than they have ever been," Mr Raunik said. "Rather than defend the reputation of the industry (and by extension us as participants) and promote the many positive things about the industry and the good work we all work very hard to produce, the MBAV and MBA Inc were complicit in publicly supporting the propaganda and misinformation being propagated to suit the political narrative the Federal Government was trying to promote." When asked about the letter, Mr Raunik told Fairfax Media it contained his personal opinions and did not represent the views of his employer. After re-reading his comments about the relationship between the MBA and the Liberal Party, he said he thought they were over-stated.

"I am not speaking on behalf of my employer when making these comments," he said. "It comes from the perspective of an individual who started in the commercial construction industry as an apprentice carpenter over 35 years ago." Mr Raunik said his main concern was the MBA's "overwhelmingly negative" commentary about the commercial construction industry. "It has been inaccurately portrayed at various times as being generally corrupt, unproductive, overpaid and infiltrated and controlled by organised crime," he told Fairfax Media. "The truth is the vast majority of industry participants, and that includes head contractors, subcontractors and employees (management and workers), are highly committed, smart, innovative, efficient and hard-working and our industry is as productive as it has ever been in my time in the industry, especially here in Melbourne.

"The MBA has at best been silent in defending the reputation and promoting the virtues of the industry and it's members and their employees, and at worst it has been complicit in facilitating the negative commentary." Mr Raunik said he was also critical of the MBA urging members against entering new agreements with the CFMEU after April 2014. It was critical of those who exercised their legal right to enter into new agreements. "Rather than working with and representing their members who chose to enter into new agreements and providing services they have in the past, they decided not to be involved and to not provide the full suite of services provided in the past to those members who chose to enter into new agreements," Mr Raunik said. Mr Raunik said the the uncertainty around the passage of the Federal Government's Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation and the date of the application of the new code "has been unsettling". "I also think construction companies are generally apolitical and just want to get on with the job of delivering their projects within the political and regulatory framework that exists at the time, as best they can," he said.

Australian Building and Construction Commissioner Nigel Hadgkiss said Mr Raunik's views "are the views of one individual in relation to his own industry association". "As far as the ABCC is concerned, this is a matter for that individual and the Master Builders Association," Mr Hadgkiss said. The MBA has been approached for comment.