Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called on conservatives within his party to hold their nerve, and to convince ordinary voters that cutting spending was in the national interest.

Mr Abbott used a speech to the Master Builders Association in Melbourne on Friday to rally so-called "reformers" within the Coalition, despite the knife-edge election result that saw Malcolm Turnbull's government returned with a majority of just one.

Mr Abbott said the Labor Party had successfully pursued an obstructionist agenda against the government, with the Coalition passing fewer than 80 per cent of bills in the last parliament.

"When it comes to budget repair, the reality is that this government has been in office, but not really in power," he said.