#ASKJIM episode 79 with Jim's Group founder, Jim Penman and Joel Kleber

Hi, everyone, and welcome to another hashtag. Ask Jim from our Remote Locations with Jim Penman, the CEO of the Jim's Group. If your first time watching as well. I'm remote and let's just kick. Let's just get straight to the point, Jim, what's been happening this week? A lot's been happening.

Oh, it's been big, big, big. These new things we're putting out. The third letter has gone really well and especially last night when he put this offer out that we're going to use clause 204 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008, which was actually put in there by Daniel Andrews, would you believe it? Which said that if you're unjustly deprived of your. Of your income, you can sue, you can ask the state government to give you compensation and if that doesn't come through, you can go to vcap. And actually we've got a fantastic case because there is no justification for shutting down sole operators, no justification at all. It's basically with clear individual guidelines from the Health and Human Services that they could act. And you've got council gardeners doing the same jobs, only in groups, so there's clearly no risk to health or safety and yet people across the state are denied work. So what we're going to do is we're going to help them to go for compensation and then go to VCAT to appeal.

And the best way for them to stay was via the Facebook page, obviously, and every week and ask Jim for updates and stuff like that. They can let us know we're going.

To provide full support, not just for our own people, but for anybody in the industry who wants help. We're going to show you how to do it, how to apply for it, how to go. We'll help you all the way along.

So we'll get that advice. Hopefully this Friday or Saturday we'll do a post, so make sure people follow Jim Penman. Also, the Jim's group will post everything on there as well.

We're getting the best possible legal advice. We've got a top QC working on this and we're paying for this too. There's no cost to anybody else. All the legal costs will be ours. But they're actually filling minor because of the way it's done.

Now let's get into it. There's a lot of questions here and comments, which is great, guys, so make sure you leave them on the feed and share the feed as well to let people know if they're interested in joining the fight as well, please let them know as well. Any independent businesses. Dan McDonald says, Jim, good to see you sticking it to dictator, Dan. Hopefully some of us. Hopefully some help for small businesses that are not in a union can come of it. My wife, my kids and I watched the one and only Ivan and one only elephants and animal to told one of your jokes. Can you guess which one? So he's told some jokes to his kid. Which one of your jokes has he told?

I should work in a Daniel Andrews joke. I don't know.

Let us know there, Daniel. Which one as well. And then here we go.

All my jokes are good, so I don't know which one.

No idea.

I like my New Zealand joke a lot actually. I like that one that always goes.

Have you done an elephant joke before? I don't know. He's watching an elephant show with the kids.

I do lots of elephant jokes. You want the elephant joke about the fridge?

Go quickly, go quickly.

How do you know if it's an elephant being in your fridge?

Naughty.

No, sorry, I've got it wrong. One. First of all, how do you fit four elephants into a Volkswagen?

Naughty.

Two in the front, two in the back. Okay, so how do you know, how do you. How do you know if there's been an elephant in your fridge? Well, obviously you've got footprints in the butter. How do you know if there's been two elephants in your fridge? Well, because there's two sets of footprints in the butter. How do you know if there's three elephants been in your fridge? Because there's three footprints in the butter. How do you reckon you know if there's been four elephants in your fridge?

Nobody? No idea. Jim.

Four in the butter because there's a Volkswagen parked outside.

Bazinga.

Good one.

Let's keep getting into it. So thanks everyone. Who's tuning in, guys? Jim Penn and CEO, make sure you leave a question and comment as well, especially about this. And stay tuned to the page. Okay. Stephen Archer, Would you run for Parliament? Jim? There's been a few suggestions of doing the gyms party and all this sort of stuff. We're getting a lot more of it.

I'm tempted at times, I really am. Some of the way that people treat the elites, treat ordinary people are outrageous. I mean, I mean it's not just the left, but the right. The whole thing is so. It's so. It's so crass the way it's done. You know, people who are in big unions who contribute massive money to the Labour Party, they get treated well. But what about businessmen who sit down at $5,000 a plate. Fundraisers, they get a say too. But the individual operators who run small businesses, the ordinary people in the state, they don't get heard and they are so swamped. There are so many policies that we have with which is so grossly unfair to ordinary people. You look at global warming, okay? Look at the way we treat global warming. What's the best way to treat global warming? It's to put a carbon tax on all carbon. Very simple, very, very effective. All the economists took the best way, okay? Now what you do with that proper way is you get that money and you distribute evenly across the community. So poorer people get extra money, they get more within compensated for the cost of the power. Rich people who live in big houses and go on international trips, they pay more. Okay, fair enough. But what do they do instead? They subsidize solar panels. Now, problem with that one, it's very, very, very inefficient. Requires a huge number of bureaucrats to administer it. And it helps the rich and gives them subsidies and screws the poor. So what do we choose? The best one that helps the poor people and screws the rich, or the poorest one, which helps the rich and screws the poor? We use the second one. Our whole system of government is so. Is so dreadful, it's so elitist, it's so wrong. And I get so fired up at times. Actually, the trouble is though, I'd love to be in parliament, but I know speak out about it. But I know it'd make me very unpopular in certain quarters with the elites. That could damage Jim's. That's a problem.

It's a question we always get. Stephen Archer. Is Jim won for the Parliament? Jim's party? Sure, we got the campaign ready. It'd be great. Noah Hamilton's gone. I must know how. How are you going to bring Messi to the gyms? A league? Have you heard of Lionel Messi at all, Jim? Well, it's just big news. Lionel Mess is probably the biggest, best soccer player in the world. He wants to leave his club so there could be a chance in the gyms A league. Paul Sandals gone. Good evening, gents. Missing the Horn vs Sioux fight tonight as I'm expecting more fireworks during this. Thank you, Jim, for sticking up for us all.

Thanks, Paul. Appreciate it. Paul sandals, chin stickers.

That's it. And during the gyms, networking as well. Eric, Jerry's gone. A quick timely reminder to everyone during this stage that it is not a good idea to leave a pot or pan on the stove when they leave the room for a moment. As you may forget about has happened here tonight, evidenced by the facts of three fiberglade trucks here to clean out the smoke out of our home. A bit embarrassing for me. It was my brigade, but it was all good. House is fine. Gee whiz, Eric, make sure. Make sure you definitely check that next time as well.

Don't put a pot on the stove and then come and ask you and forget about it. You'll be so enthralled you won't go back your house.

We do have Jim's fire safety though. Eric, if you need some fire extinguishers and stuff in your home. Annie Thompson's gone. Jim, the newsletter in January of last year said that for franchisees rating 4.5 and above franchise also we had assumed to delete one not at fault survey or complaint each six months. Even without firm evidence they are wrong. We asked our franchisor and he said he couldn't do this as there was no written process in place. Has it started yet and been sent to franchise orders?

Okay, it's not one survey or complaint, it's one complaint. And in fact, if it's 4.6 and above, you get one complaint off and if it's 4.8 and above, you get two complaints off per year. And all that happens is you Simply email me jims.net and I'll do it for you. I do it all the time. I've done it quite a few and then I keep a record to make sure I don't double. So yes, it's a great system. It works well. I've taken off lots and lots of complaints because, you know, if you've got a 4.9 rating and you get a complaint, well, for heaven's sake, I mean, you are brilliant. Why would I. Why would I not knock it off?

The great comment and question there, Annie. Thanks for letting us know. The Dave McDonald says, Jim, are you a Monty Python fan? Question.

Oh, yes, I love Monty Python. I'm actually watching Monty Python all through again. Spanish Inquisition and, and architect sketch and the Gumbies and stuff. Oh, I love Monty Python. The Holy Grail. One of the classic films of all time. I love it.

Fantastic. I like laughing.

If you're a Monty Python fan, you're.

A friend of mine and Preston Brown's gone. Do you think that Actions by Dan Andrews and Brett Sutton are more about public perception than actual care for Victorians? And considering the stats from local and international studies on lockdowns and coronavirus?

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Daniel Andrews is all about poison stuff. Why did we have this stage four thing where you can't work as a sole operator? It was in the initial guidelines that you could. What happened is he came to a. He came to a press conference a week later and he blurted it out and he. And he's got two choices. He can. He can back down and say, sorry, I made a mistake. The guidelines are clear. It's quite safe to do this. Fine. But that might make him look politically weak or he could throw tens of thousands out of work. Easy for somebody. Basically, he's a sociopath. That's an easy decision for him. But I have asked him again and again, what is your reasoning for doing this? Where is your evidence that it's dangerous? Why are council workers allowed to operate at ours? Not give me your reasons. He doesn't even deign to reply. He doesn't even admit to reading one of my letters, even though they've been a subject of several national news reports. So there's no reason. The only reason he won't change is because he is too stubborn to admit he's wrong and he's prepared to let any number of people suffer because of it. It's a dreadful man.

I should have added at the start, but yeah. Just to confirm you've had no reply, even to just say thanks for your email. Anything? Nothing. Nothing like that.

He won't even admit he's read a letter. He's been asked at news conferences. He won't even admit he's read. I'm sure he has. I'm sure he's read every letter, but he will not admit to reading it because if he did, he'd have to answer the questions and he won't do that.

Eric Jones gone. Jim, I love the support that you were giving the Melbourne based franchisees and in fact, all other sole traders. It is worth mentioning that unlike other movements, Jim has chosen to voice his opinions through the media. No one has been marching, no one has been protesting publicly. I will add, I love the fact that we all have the right to voice our opinions and we should also listen to other people's opinions. Only then we will truly have an understanding of how it is affecting everyone.

Yeah, absolutely. People write to me. I had two people today write to me to object. I've had about 100 say, good on you, but two people write to me, object, and I write them back. I explain exactly what we're doing and why and I show them why. One of them actually said to. I bet you're so greedy. You're charging your franchisees fees. And I said, no, I'm not. Every single franchisee has been suspended completely, even though they still can go out and do NDIS work. And the rest, even we don't mind that. We just give no charge at all. That's what we're like. And not only that, but this is not about me. But I could know quite well that my franchisors in Melbourne are not getting paid a cent from their franchisees and they're ringing their franchisees regularly and saying, mate, how are you? They're looking after their people because they care about them. There are a bunch of really, really great people and I just take my hat to how wonderful they are.

They're doing a lot more the franchises in regards to that and they're probably getting into know more at a personal level. I've heard that feedback from some franchisors in Melbourne who are doing a Good job. Dave McDonald says, Jim, if you run for. If you ran for Parliament, you would have my vote. Maybe you could pick a franchisee from every electorate to run. Pick them based on their star rating, of course. That's a good one.

Well, doesn't mean to say you're a good politician. I don't know. I don't know. I probably wouldn't make a good politician. I'm too outspoken, too honest.

You're too. No, too honest. You probably say something.

I say what I think. Sometimes I think about running for the Senate because that's an area where you can get the upper house type thing, but I don't think I'd fit in part of a major party. I'm too outspoken.

Yeah. You have to run your own party, wouldn't you? You've got great branding already, Jim. It would definitely go pretty well, to be honest.

Look, I really thought about it for years. I was sort of writing a book about some of my ideas, which are basically a radical populist. They're not really right or left. They're more what's in the interest of ordinary people. But I think, how much damage would I do to the brand? Will people stop ringing us because of what I've said? And my first obligation is to my franchisees, so that's the reason I haven't done it.

Michael Kings got much respect for the job you're doing for those who need a strong voice. Thank you very much for that, Michael Tyler Alcox says good evening, Jinx. Hope you are going well through lockdown. Make sure you are taking care of your health while it sucks. Are you still doing your exercise all the time, Jim, every morning?

Oh, yes, yes. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes rowing and I had a half hour walk with a mask, I might say.

Fantastic, fantastic. Lawrence Hughes goes vote one. Jim's group party. Absolutely Got a good ring to it then. Jim's party to drain the swamp from Stephen Archer. Rebecca Jane Wainwright's gone wondering why my local gym's quoted for work and I said, yes, let's do it. Then two months later I'm still waiting for him to call me to do the job. Got someone else to the gutters in the yard. Another person did my roof when dad died to clear my gutters. He put my hose down my pipe and blocked it because he wanted dollars. Then he took my council notice to dump my items and took two weeks to return it and asked me not to give him negative feedback. Well, we're sorry to hear that Rebecca is a customer. Maybe where can she send through complaint details? I don't know if it's been rectified.

Send it to me jim@jims.net well, I mean I will always do it if a customer rings twice, hasn't had the problem done with the first time, it's sent straight to me as a CEO of Jim's Group and I'll make sure they're looked after. I had a case just today where a client reckons that they're. They're in house in their stereo or something in their car had been wrecked by a cow cleaner and I just said send me the bill. I went to the franchisee, investigated it, went through it. I said, you haven't got this is plausible case here. Send me the bill. I pay it not. We'll probably can bill it back to the franchisee but we'll look after you.

Sorry to hear that, Rebecca, but thanks for letting us know and jumping online and then we go. Don't McDonald Jim love Monty Python, can quote most movies and show. Maybe you should start Jim's funny walks.

Yeah, that's. That's beautiful. I love the dead parrot sketch too. That's wonderful, isn't it? I love John Cleese. He's so funny.

Very smart man. He done remember the massive training video organization he's a lawyer from didn't you Cambridge or something. He's very, very, very intelligent person.

Very clever man. He's done so much great stuff actually Paul D Towers is brilliant too watching that as well. It's just.

I love Foley Towers. Manuel's great. Matt Norris has gone I'll ask him a question, why don't you. We read everything out in Jim's. So I'm going to put this one in. All right, I'll ask GM a question. Why don't you back the something off Dan Andrews, who is trying his hardest and doesn't need your BS lawsuit on.

Top because he's not trying his hardest, because he's not trying his hardest to look after Victorians, because he won't answer the questions. A simple question. You've thrown tens of thousands of Victorians out of work who are no risk to the public and it's clear. And I've asked him to explain why and he will not give an answer. There are tens of thousands of Victorians want to know why they've been night work and he will not even speak for them. He's not doing his. He's a dangerous, dangerous man. And the problem is that when you have somebody who acts arbitrarily and unfairly and in a way that people don't, nobody knows what the rules are, you don't gain support for the measures we all need to take, you actually undermine support from the public. He's a very bad, dangerous leader. He is incompetent and he is arrogant and he won't listen. So I will not back off until he backs down on this dreadful thing. Until this came up, until he killed the industry, I had nothing but support for everything the government did. And you know, on us, Jim, I have supporters. I said, download the COVID app, wear masks. We did everything possible to support the government, but then they put this insane practice in place which causes immense suffering and has no relevance to health at all. And until he takes that down, I will continue to attack him and once he takes it down, I will shut up.

Thanks for that question and comment there, Matt. And we answer everything. So if you've got opposite opinion, guys, please feel free to put it in there and we'll read it in there as well. Darren Phelps has gone. Jim's for Vic Premier. I said there's a lot of a swell for it. Peter Walls. He's gone. Spent so much money on this campaign, Jim, that you still can't upgrade your microphone quality. People on the International Space Station have better quality. Come on there, Peter. It's not that bad. We try to do our best. Then Paul Swab. I'm not a part of this franchise. Some complaints are. From what about. From what about me people. It's all about appropriate communications from the customer to the service provider is a comment from Paul Schwab as an independent.

That is true too. A lot of the problems you get is when you actually don't give a firm written quote and then there's a disagreement about what's to be done and people complain about that. And as I say to franchisees, if you do that, if you don't give a quote, then you have to do what the customer says. But next time, write it down.

And Dave McDonald's gone. Jim, what is your least favorite book from behind you? Your least favorite? That's a good question. We've had that one before.

Your least favorite, if it's least favorite. I don't read very much of it. I give up after the first three pages.

That's true.

I gotta admit. I buy a few books from Amazon which look good and then I find there's some, I don't know, Grinny Rant or something like that. I mean, I'm an environmentalist. I love One book I was reading recently was False Alarm, which is about how to solve the global warming crisis and how to get rid of it. And it's talking from a rational point of view and talking about the actual costs and the best methods. I love that kind of stuff. It's terrific. It talks about green policies and some books are just too ideological to mean anything. They're so impractical.

Good question. So, guys, we jump on. Make sure you leave a question or comment for Jim. We're going to get through as much as we can. 122 people watching, which is great on this cold Wednesday night. Then Guy Box is going good on you, Jim. You're a good man. That's great. And then Dave McDonald says they took one of the faulty towers down because you can't mention the war.

No, no, they didn't. Because I just watched it. I just watched that. It was on. Was on Netflix or Scadana, one of the two. But yeah, it was there. It's funny, it's great. It's a great episode.

The Rachel. Colleen's gone. I love Faulty towers as a kid, which is great. Rachel and Darcy's gone. Hi, Jim and Joel. How many gyms divisions do you have in the group? Gyms is an essential service from Darcy.

Well, we'd like to think so. We've got over 50, but most of them are quite small. There's only like eight or over 100 franchisees, which we consider a good sized division, like mowing, cleaning antennas, dog wash, test and tag, pool care. What else? They're the big ones. Fencing. Fencing.

Fencing, of course.

Yeah, yeah.

Adrian, Dominic's gone. Is there, is there a precedent in which a stole trader or small business has been able to enforce a case, the vic gov upon which the gov would be required to provide compensation? That's a good question.

Not yet. Because we haven't tried it. Because, because this only came in so three weeks ago. So we're going to do it now. We're going to, we're going to push it through and once, once it starts going through VCAT then we've got some. VCAT's going to be flooded. We intend to hit the thousands of cases because the government's still not going to pay.

What do you think about the Clive Palmer act or what WA did when Clive Palmer done that thing against the WA and they had to bring in the Clive Palmer act to stop compensation paid?

Yes.

Do you think they would do something like that in Victoria?

I think they'll try. I think they'll try. I mean basically there are 12 members cross bench members of the upper house of the Parliament. There are 70 out of 40, there are 17 labor, there are 12 crossbench and the rest are liberal and national. So in effect the crossbenches can stop the government from doing things. And what the government's going to want to do when this comes out is going to try and change the law, take away Daniel Andrews own law to stop the conversation. We want the crossbenches to stand firm and stand up for the rule of law and for the little guy. And the other thing that they're going to do hopefully is to try and stop. I mean Andrews wants another 12 months of arbitrary rule control. Let him do whatever he wants without any justification. They've got to stop it. So these under, these 12 men and women, we rely so much on them doing the right thing and helping to preserve Victoria from ruin.

Then Petrus has gone. You love your work. Gentlemen tuning in from Queensland. Just want to ask are the franchisees that are out of work during lockdown receiving any financial support from the government, jobkeeper, etc.

Yeah, some of them get a bit, not enough to justify what they've lost and often very, very delayed. There's some terrible, terrible stories of ruin. There's franchisees who run bridging visas and stuff have got no income at all. They're getting thrown out of their house, they can't pay their rent, they can't, they can't eat. Some terrible stories. There was one person who ran to me today talking about how insignificant the sacrifice was. I actually sent him back the account from Sharon Connell. About this franchisee and about how. What a dreadful situation she's in. I said, you call this insignificant? This poor lady is at her wits end. She's desperate, desperate, desperate. But she's forbidden to work and she doesn't get any money from the government at all. And she's not the only one. There are many people in desperate need. The suffering this thing has caused is incalculable and for no reason. That's what really infuriates me. If it really helped to defeat the virus, yes, but it has no effect at all.

Deborah Firth's gone. Thanks for standing up for your workers and their clients. Much appreciated. I have a son with a disability and Daniel Andrews did not bother to care. How he's locking down services affected us. You spoke to us when he came out to say people with disabilities can have services after the event.

Yeah, well, eventually they did, but the whole thing is so erratic and nobody really knows the story. What are you allowed to do? What are you not? But NDIS seems to be okay. So we told our people, go out and do ndis. If you think it's an emergency, you can do it too. We're not going to charge you fees, but if you can get some work, God bless you, we'll look after you and that's fine. We don't object.

The one which infuriates me, Jim, is the funeral stuff. So with Tobin Brothers, they said they'd done 200 applications for an exemption, let's say for a five month year old baby or whatever it was. And they had, and then that got rejected and I had to go once it went to the news. Then they changed the rule so they don't count to the 10 person limit for a funeral. You know, it's crazy, it's horrifying.

It's so arbitrary. It's so unclear. I've had franchisees on the phone for four and five hours at a time trying to get an answer. MPs don't know. Bureaucrats don't know. Because no matter what you write down, the next conference, the Premier will get up and put a, put a, put his fist through it. There's no certainty. There's no rule of law, there's no consistency in this. It's ruled by the arbitrary whim of one man. Basically, he's an elected dictator. Elected four years and he does what he likes. The Labor Party is all cowed. Nobody can stop him, nobody can stand up to him. I just hope that those 12 men and women in the crossbenches have got some Guts. And they've got some compassion for the people of Victoria because if they give way, then we are stuffed and we had.

And we're going to be some more updates later in the week, so make sure everyone stays tuned and stay tuned for those announcements. Jerry Wangman's got it. If we as franchisees are going to fight for compensation, where would we start? Any idea of legal costs involved?

Legal costs will be zero, apart from, I think there's a small fee, like a few bucks to go to vcat. What will happen is as soon as we get word from our qc, as the name of the wording, we're going to post it on Facebook, Jim's group Facebook page. Have a look there. It'll be at the top. It'll be right at the top. So it'll be pinned.

Yes.

So you can see it. Everybody keep an eye on that. Then we'll tell you exactly what to do. Then you need to write a letter. We'll give you the form, exactly what to put in the form will tell you who to send it to. You send it off there, you'll wait 28 days and then almost certainly they'll say no. And then we'll show you how to apply to vcat. We're going to help you, every one of you, along the way, all of our franchisees. I might have to put an extra staff to cope with all the help, but we're going to help everybody to do this whole thing. And as I said, you don't need lawyers. I've paid for the best legal advice in the country. You don't need to pay anything for lawyers because VCAT is no lawyers.

So make sure you like the page and follow the page guys. And you got people who want to join it, make sure you tell them to like and follow the page. And we'll keep posting the announcements and putting them to the top. As Jim said, Matthew Royce has gone his change of pace. Hi, Jim. Which is the best lawnmower on the market? Question mark.

I like the dashy ones. Ego's really nice. I hope down the track a bit. We use those more and more. They're nice, actually. I mean, environmentally they're quite good. But even more than that, they're very quiet. Quiet. Low repair maintenance. We've got a trailer actually rigged out, which you can. There's some videos on the system. You can have a look at it. There's a trailer rigged out that's got a solar panel over the top and it can, as it. As you drive, it recharges the battery with the solar panel and a bit from the car so. So your batteries stay charged all day. I mean electric knives are great. I used one on my farm. It's fantastic.

Then Race Quality has got any what percentage or rough numbers of Jim's franchisees are sole operators. We operate as a separate business entity so have been able to claim jobkeeper and grants. Sole traders have no financial help available as they were originally intended to be able to work. When that was removed, financial aid for them wasn't aided as a trade off. Well done for standing up for them.

Yeah, that's right. Well I think they get, they get the dole, that's what they get basically, which is a fraction and it's not enough to live on or pay their mortgage or anything. It's appalling the hurt that they're suffering. As I said, it's not just financial, it's also, it's also the emotional, you know. Do you know three times more people have died from suicide since died from COVID And it's not that, not that we're saying let it rip but you know, you've got to look at the consequences, the economic and emotional consequences of whatever you do. There's got to be a balance. You can't simply say, you know, a thousandth of a percent chance that one person will die doesn't mean, doesn't mean you can throw 10,000 people out of work. Even if that was the case, it's wrong because when you hire people out of work there are consequences, there are hurts. And the thing about too a person who dies from COVID Now if an 80 year old with heart attack or cancer dies of COVID that's pretty sad because they might live another year or two, but a young mother with two young children commits suicide because of the stress of this thing. You know, she's lost 40 years of life, her kids are scarred for life. I mean that's a terrible loss. And to say that doesn't matter anything because the only thing that matters is, is the 80 year old, that's just crazy. You've got to consider the cost of what you do when you, when you put these regulations into place. And so far the premier couldn't give a stuff about the cost in any way.

They interviewed a coroner I think the other night on one of the news channels and Basically yeah, between 22 and 40 year old men were the primary ones. You know, I presume some of them had families as well. So really sorry for those people in their work.

We've seen this in gyms. Actually, we've seen people commit suicide in gyms and it's very hard because we're like a few. It's like an extended family in a lot of ways. So when somebody happens to one of our people, I've seen it several times and it's very, very hard to take. Suicide is a real problem. Mental health is a very big problem and it's got a lot worse this year. We've really got to care for the vulnerable people in our society. We cannot be arrogant and remote and indifferent as the Premier is.

And if anyone needs help, please reach out to beyondblue on those relevant services as well.

Jim's franchisees should have a little fridge magnet that goes on your fridge, which gives you. If you haven't got one of those, let us know. We'll post one to you.

Jared, by what has gone. I'm a sole trader and I'm the jobkeeper. So sole traders are doing jobkeeper. Okay. So, Matthew, what's going. He had a call from a friend today who saw three landscape gardeners putting a retaining wall up today. Unmasked and definitely not keeping any distance. So frustrating.

A lot. That's the strange thing. You're going to finish off a landscaping job but you can't clear a pensioner's gutters or you can't clear the pathway so you can trip over rubbish. It's so arbitrary and inconsistent. Multiple people can go on a construction site Even though they're 100 times more likely to cause infection than one person working by themselves. There's no rationality to this at all. It's simply, how much money have your union paid to the Labor Party coffers? That's honestly where it is.

And then Sean Matthews gone. What are the chances that the Premier will hold deep discussions with you? Question mark. Sensible, robust discussion. I bet he dances around it.

Well, I don't know what I think of the chances, but I think it's about the same chance you're going to dance and they get down Swanston Street. Frankly, no chance in the world. There's nowhere in the world the Premier will. He won't even answer the question, much less try and resolve the problem.

Peter Woolsey's gone. GoFundMe. Set up a GoFundMe page for Jim Penman microphone. We might have to do that. Peter and Thomas Berryman. I have to blind based on some of your feedback as myself. So Thomas Berryman's going, love your book, Jim, which is great. Then James Hannigan, bridge keeper voice. What is Your favorite color?

My favorite colour.

Is that a Monty Python reference? Bridge keeper voice? I don't know.

That's Holy grail. What is your favorite color? Questions they ask at the thing. Actually, I like black. I'm a big fan of black. I would have said green in the past but I can't be too. I can't be too.

Black's very neutral. Black light. Black's very neutral for you.

Black isn't the gym's color at all. There's no gym. There's no gym's division that goes by black.

Oh, there's one black and orange, which is mobile cafe.

Well, black and orange, yeah, but orange is a horrible color. It's great for mobile cafe. It's a really good looking van.

Stands out looking van.

You should look at it. Daughter's stripes and things. But as a color I'm not crazy about orange. I do like green though. It's the kind of the outside and stuff and lawns and trees and a.

Lot of our mowing guys bleed green, as I commonly say.

Yes, that's right.

Dave McDonald says, I had lead cancel yesterday because they thought I wasn't local. I answered the phone, Jim's antennas, Horsham, they were in Horsham yet said I'll be there in an hour and a half and they booked someone else. It's hard to be national and local with the call center.

It's true, it's true. Sometimes it's the perception of that they don't realize that we're local. That's why this slogan, your local expert is so important. But also we're doing things with the, what do they call it, the Google, Google places. Google my business. Yeah, we're trying to get that set up for every franchise. It's one of our aims so that when a person looks up, you know, Horsham for the antennas, you're right there as Horsham with your basic place and everything in it.

There's a lot set up, but a lot of franchisees don't drive reviews to it. So we've got to try and look at a way to centralize this and start educating and everyone making it a bit easier.

Yeah.

Dave McDonald says, how do you sue the government when we essentially pay the government? Aren't you suing yourself?

Well, yes, we are. Of course taxpayers have to pay it. But the other side of it too is that the real purpose of this is not to get a whole lot of money from taxpayers, but to actually get people back to work so they don't need the Money for the taxpayers. The idea is to put pressure on the government to say it's going to cost you a lot. Why don't you come to your senses and let us go back to work then not only did we not need to sue you for extra money, but we don't need jobkeeper, we don't need the dole and in fact we'll start paying taxes and we'll start moving the economy. So I'm actually trying to reduce the pressure on taxpayers and the best way to do that is to go back to work because tell you what, no amount of dole money actually makes any money. It's all a cost. The only thing that makes money for the government is people to work and to make an income and, and to use their money to pay other people and everybody pays taxes and we start to get out of this mess, then.

JoJo is going with fine. Hi Jim, are we allowed to service NDIs? DHHS say no unless it's an emergency. Then the providers say yes. It's very confusing. Also, do you think we'll be compensated?

I've been told that you can do NDIs, you can do emergencies vaguely defined and it really depends on the local policeman what they think. They might think, yes, you're okay. I got one guy into trouble, he got into str. Big, big strike for mowing his own nature strip, for heaven's sake. So you can move the front lawn, the back lawn but he can't mow the nature strip. And the police about the angry told him to go back inside, mow his own. So it so much depends.

Yeah, we had, we had a comment before tonight and that someone said they left. The big comment was basically they went, they tried to find out and they had this automated messaging system and they couldn't get onto anyone and then they had to go through different channels and it was a big wait so no one could find out the information which was very frustrating for everyone. Then Jason Pollock's gone here. I've been listening to your authentic Convos podcast, Joel. Great job, mate. Can't wait to hear more. Thanks Jason for listening to that. We do a Podil podcast with mental health stuff. Then Kerry Horton's gone. Hi Jim. I've been operating for seven years next week and have been involved in a BNI networking group for six years and it's been great for growth in my business and I've introduced a few franchisees in Newcastle to it and they have reaped the growth. Do you promote BNI in training and can I get A director to personally contact you to maybe work out a way to promote it to franchisees. More from Kerry.

It sort of depends on the division that you're in. Did he say which division he's in?

Kerry, can you say what div you're there in? Mate, I know you're in Newcastle, but I don't think there's a div there. So just let us know what div.

Look, most divisions like fencing, mowing, generally most divisions have plenty of work. In fact, the great majority are turned off for work. So there's no reason to go to bni, which costs money and a lot of time to get work. The divisions that really benefit are those that really want to network and things like computer services, bookkeeping, for example, maybe test and tag. I think it's a fair idea. I do mention that in training we talk about it, but you also, you do the easy things first. I mean, you don't, you don't, you don't, you know, you put down for work in all your areas. You go for your upselling, you go for your ask for referrals, you use your backlist. There's a whole lot of things that's a lot simpler to do and cheaper than bni. Now, if you tried all those and you're in a vision that needs work, then by all means bni. But it wouldn't be my first port of call.

Yeah, Sam Robinson does local area marketing and training. He does mention. I know Sam is pretty big proponent of it and we have some. I think Vanessa from Jim's Finance was the BNI person off the unit. Victoria. So it does work for some people.

Financing would work, building inspections, which is Sam, of course is a good one. So those kind of divisions that are not the ones that are actually involved working with your hands and hard tend to have plenty of work. Fencing, handyman, mowing, dog wash, those kinds of things. They tend to never have a problem with work. It's more your white collar stuff that BNI can be good for.

Here's one from Kyle Benz. Why is your solution to stopping Andrews financially ruining the country? Selling tax pays for millions.

Well, actually my solution is try to stop ruining the country. As I said before, I want to get people back to work because let's face it, if we're throwing out of work for no reason, we're not paying taxes, we're actually receiving government benefits. We're actually plunging deeper in the hole. Now I will stop this. If Andrew stops, says tomorrow you can go back to work, this all stops. I won't pursue these claims at all. And then my guys will go out and they'll start making money and paying money and getting us out of the hole. So, in actual fact, by this campaign, I'm aiming to save taxpayers billions of dollars. I'm on your side. If you're a taxpayer, you want to support me because I want to go back to work and stop leeching off the government.

But also the flow on effect, the mental health, the wellbeing of the family in the home, you know, reduced. There's a lot of flow on things which people we're not going to know really the true extent for years to come. Then Leila's gone here as well. Yes. We should have been allowed to keep working. We have a restaurant in Cowes and the debt is mounting every week. And I feel very sorry for restaurants and bars and stuff like that.

I do, too. I have to say, though, that for a restaurant, there is some justification for least spacing and all kinds of things. I think it's known. See, certain things are known to cause infection. Restaurants can do it. Abattoirs can do it. Old people's homes can do it. Family gatherings can do it. Demonstrations can do it. There are churches can do it, which I miss my church a huge amount. So there are things that we can be reasonably careful about. Wearing masks, staying 1.5 meters apart, washing hands. This is all good stuff. We're all in favor of that. What I'm saying is let's clamp down on the things that we need to, even if it hurts, but let's keep going with the things that don't present a danger. And then we have the maximum economic, the maximum benefit in terms of health, with the minimum cost in terms of mental illness and financial loss.

Then Therese Ghani, because there's an agenda, but he's trying to hide. So they're saying she's got an agenda and trying to hide. Ziggy Pete has gone having a glass of wine and watching in. No politician has had to sacrifice one cent. There is no way they are able to understand. Keep it up. Jim from Ziggy.

Yeah, you know, it's interesting. The people who are most, who are most adamant we all got to sacrifice are the ones that don't have sacrifice at all. They work comfortably from home. You know, they've got professional jobs. They're public servants, they're politicians. I mean, basically speaking, it's wonderful times for them because, you know, and you read little articles in this about how wonderful it is to work from home. Home. And you've got no more commuting and stuff and how much better life is and you get to know your family. You hear stories all the time in the media, but they're all about these kinds of people who aren't suffering. But they're the ones that say that the poor lawn mowing contractors and the cleaners and they're the ones that have got to suffer. In other words, my belief in health is so important, I don't matter how much somebody else has to sacrifice, as long as it's not me. And that's a very, very selfish, elitist attitude.

Thanks for the. Thanks that comment, ziggy. The Dave McDonald says I've got a customer on the SA border whose fence is the prota. He on the border. Maybe he can't go on his own property to feed his sheep. Luckily they've backed in and allowed exemptions. That's an interesting one. Property on the border can't go. Couldn't go to feed his sheep. Then they back down.

Look at. I don't know. I mean there's a lot of. I'm not actually. I'm not a libertarian about these things. I don't mind a certain amount and I'm. Victoria is the plague capital of the country. I mean, if they want to stop Victorians for going elsewhere, that's not unreasonable. I think we've got to do. We do need to make sacrifices. We do need to back the government. I have no problem with anything that Scott Morrison's done. Even what Jacinda Arden did in New Zealand wasn't nearly as bad. At least it was clear and it was consistent. It was all people. They didn't allow the council workers to work. They said, everybody in your houses. At least it was consistent. But what Andrews has done is horrifying.

Then Kerry and Paul's reply to Kerry says, hi, Kerry, we're relaunching the gyms. Networking really soon will be great in places like Newcastle but instead of costing more than 3,000 a year like BNI is provided as a value add for being part of the Jim's group. Thanks for that, Paul. And he's leading the charge of that.

It costs absolutely nothing and you know. But you know what happens with it. It's actually self defeating because the people who do these networks, it's one from every division, they meet together, say every fortnight at McDonald's they quickly get so much work they drop out because it works so well. It actually works brilliant. You got 50 divisions and you. And you pass work back and forth and you Build referral networks and very soon you just don't need any more work.

Gary Herzog's going. I started at first lockdown so only government help for me is job seeker. So a whole 400 bucks per week. Let's put Andrews on this, onto that support to a family and see how quickly things change.

I would love that. I would love to see that happen.

Then Paul Schwab's gone. I'm back again. What is Jim is doing absolutely what is needed for all small business owners. And then Peter Woolsey's gone. Jim, you do know that Queensland and New South Wales both can be extended their state of emergency for as long as they like and Victoria needs to reapply after six months. I don't know if that's.

Yeah, I can tell you one of the reasons we're fighting this thing so hard. It's not just for the six weeks. We want to try and dissuade Andrews from extending it beyond the six weeks and. And we also want to do what we can to make sure that other state governments don't do the same thing. And if I'm speak loud enough across the country they may think twice before taking me on again.

And what people got to remember the gym is just doing this for everyone. It's not for just the franchisees because I see that comment all the line and it really irks me on time. Just have the people on the certain side of politics, for example who try and politicize it and think it's just Jim doing it for his. It's not, it's everyone who's affected by it in the same way. Christopher Cannavaro basically said here I rang the police vic advisory line to have my questions answered as I referred to by the dhhs. So Dave referred him to the police, got the automated system followed up, referred back then to DHS again and hung up on. So I chose a different prompt and spoke to an officer and was referred back to DHSS again. And then basically trying to receive some clarity on the health and safety issue for rubbish removal job and he just says it's so hard to get any clarity.

But there is a big difference in the society between one that works on the rule of law and the one that works on the whim of a man. And when say the Roman republic became an empire, that's what happened. It was one man, the emperor could say whatever he liked. He could, he could kill people, he could do whatever he wanted to. That's that whole principle. Now Andrews is not actually putting people to death. I have tastes to say, but it's the same principle. And that's why it's so important that the Parliament actually stands up for the rights of Victorians because nobody else can.

And that's what they're there for to do. So let's hope they do and stay tuned for that. Paul, shop's gone. It's about. It's not about jobkeeper, it's about the mental health of people wanting to provide and do what they enjoy. That's a great comment as well, Theresa. Suzanne's got my friend who has a gardening business. Can he also join at all? He can put money in if he's.

Got a gardening business. All he has to do is to go on Jim's group Facebook and we show them what to do. We will help our competitors to do this as well, because it's not just us and in fact the people who are suffering worse, a lot of the independents, because most Jim's people are fairly well off because we make very good income by comparison to the industry. So a lot of people who are desperate out there. Most of the support I get is not actually from gyms. I've had a lot from gyms people. Most of it's actually from non gyms, people who just say, good. And you're speaking up for us. Nobody else will speak up for us. We thank you for what you've done.

Just tell him to like the page, Therese, and he'll be notified and he can check the page for all the information. Stuart Rainbows goes. What about franchisors? Goes. Stewie. Will they apply to VCAT as well from Stuart Rainbows, a franchisor?

Well, you'd have to show. I don't think that's going to be possible, actually. But this is particular. This particular one is about individual people who refused ability to work. What's happened with your cases? It's secondhand, so I don't think franchisors are getting anything. We won't make a cent out of it. It'll cost us money. It's really for the sake of the people at the cold front. That's what it's for. It's such a great system because.