#ASKJIM episode 81 with Jim's Group founder, Jim Penman and Joel Kleber

All right, g', day, everyone. We're back for another hashtag asking, what's episode number 81? And we're via Zoom this week, so hopefully we've got no issues. We'll see all your comments and your questions, so make sure you put them in there, guys, and let us know you're here. That'd be great. Just put them in there as early as you can to get them to them as well. So, Jim, you've obviously been very, very busy this week. You've been a national celebrity, more so than you normally are with Sunrise and Today, which was yesterday.

Yeah, yeah. Lots of publicity on that one. My inbox went berco. It's about 90 to 95% favorable. Some people didn't like what I said.

Very much, but 95%, as you said.

Overall, the premier's such a nice man. He's so consultative and honorable and just trying to do his best for everybody. Oh, yeah, that's right now.

That's great. But 95% has been overwhelmingly positive. So let's run through a few things first. So there's been a couple of ideas you've been floating during the week, which has been some T shirts, maybe. Do you want to talk about the T shirts and put it to the audience regarding that?

Yeah. Well, this lady has come up with this idea of putting T shirts out, wants to use our logo. We won't do it ourselves. We'll do it for her. Probably sell them for 10 bucks. Hopefully a couple of bucks can go towards helping some of the franchisees that have been really badly hurt. But we're looking for themes. Like somebody mentioned Jim's premier removal. We just want you to come up with some ideas about what you think should go on a T shirt that would actually express what we're doing at the moment, I think.

Yeah, no, Jim's no risk to infection. That was another one you had. Put them in the comments, guys there. So what would you want to do in a shirt? And they won't be that much at all. And if they usually like it, we'll let people know. And then. So Jim's premium removal is one. Jim's no risk to infection as well. What was the other ones as well, Jim's. Let him go back to work. I don't know. Put your ideas in there, people. We'll see what can happen is. All right, so we've got these questions coming in now, which is fantastic, and I can see them this week. So Dave McDonald says a hoy, hoy. And a Mr. Burns voice. Okay. Then milkshake, that's his name. He's gone.

Excellent.

So we've got milkshakes gone here. G', day, Jim. Why do you think you're above the law? So a tough one to start off with.

No, I'm not actually. Our franchisees are obeying the law. Precisely. They're staying home. I just think the law is wrong, which is a different thing entirely. That'd be like if you lived in a country where say, capital punishment was. Was allowed even for minor crimes. Would you. Would you. Would you think it was wrong? And if so, is anything wrong with that? You can disagree with the law without breaking it.

And then we go there. Luke Jurgens is tuned, which is fantastic. So Luka Colbrook's gone. Question coffee van being the new gyms idea. What's in the pipeline that hasn't started yet? It's a good question mark. They must have seen Jim's mobile Cafe or the ads online.

Well, Jim's Security Doors is about to launch again. We've had that in the past. Jim's Floors is also had in the past. That's coming back shortly.

Jim's roofing, Jim's heating.

We always try and if something goes and we know it works, we try and bring it back when we find the right people to run it. So there's a few going on. I get all the time in terms.

Of Mobile cafe is getting a lot of interest. It's a good one for someone who might like that type of stuff. And Eric's doing really well.

Yes, he is. He's making well before the crackdown he was making very good money, actually had a good system. So we really ready to go on that one. We could fit, you know, 20 in Melbourne, easy.

Absolutely.

Many more interstate and then.

And Peter Percy team, which is fantastic. So Eric's tuned in as well. He's gone. Hey, guys. Great work this week, Jim, with all the media. Glad you practice all those book signings now that you can. Now that you will be even more famous.

Yeah, people keep on wanting me to stand for politics and stuff. No way. That's a dirty game, that one.

I was going to say you've been getting out a bit more in the press, but now it's pretty much big celebrity status now, I guess with the two major ones this week and you've been on there probably four times, I reckon, which is not very common at all.

Yeah, well, I'm basically a spokesman for a lot of businesses and people have got to stand up for it. I mean, who else is going to speak for small traders like small, like mowers and cleaners and pool care people and dog wash and so forth. Who can speak for such people? They don't have powerful lobbyists. So I'm the voice and we've made it very clear that what we're doing is for everybody. We just think it's unfair. We're not some people to break the law. We're just saying when you've got a clear case where a sole trader operator working alone is not a danger, infection, you shouldn't be shut down. Especially when you've got council workers who are working in groups doing the same job. It's just not, it's not right. We're not reducing the risk of infection one bit but you are increasing the risk of all kinds of mental illnesses and suicide and all sorts of things when you shut people down for no reason. So we just try to make that point and hopefully the Premier does seem to be listening a little bit, which certainly you can't talk. Nobody can normally get through to the Premier in any way. Even members of his own party can't speak to him. He's a very, very hard guy to reach.

What about the revelation today that the lockdown was not on the advice of the Chief Health Officer and he's come out and said that today. That blows up a bit online.

Yeah, well you hear what, you know, national health people like the Prime Minister are saying too. I mean what we've done in Victoria is outrageous. It's causing far more damage than it's helping.

Now we've got a few questions and comments coming out which is fantastic. It's got 100 people tuning, so make sure you leave your questions and comments guys. Wendy Wright's got a Jim's libert. Then Dave McDonald says Jim's anti Dictator Movement. I've seen that coming along a lot online though.

Jim's Antidictators.

Then Tracy Lambda Vote one. Jim, we're getting a lot of those. Then Steve Beck. Here's a genuine question we haven't had for a while. Hi, Jim, what would be the best stump poison to kill stumps? I don't know. Did you have to kill stumps back in the day?

I think anytime I've ever used it, I used something like hydrochloric acid or something like that. But, but I'm sorry, I'm not really an expert these days in such things. I never really liked poisons very much. I, I was always. I dug things manually on my farm. Now I don't. We don't use Any poisons, any pesticides, anything. It's all totally organic. So I. I never liked them because there's always a danger that's going to get into your system, this kind of thing.

Were you able to buy hydrochloric acid? I don't even know if you could do that now.

I seem to remember that's what I used. One time I had a stump that I had to try and kill. But, yeah, I wouldn't know. Just go into the shop at Arsenal. I guess they probably know more than I do.

Well, talk to a franchisee or franchisor, Steve. I think if you're a franchisee, they would know best as well. Then Wendy Wright's gone. His gym, the Liberator there. We are calling you Liberator as well. Daniel Silks can't stand the Premier. Okay. Daniel Silks has gone. Do you do Jim's Roller doors? Roller shutters, question mark.

Actually, roller doors is one that failed, as a matter of fact. It's very sad. We just couldn't get enough work to keep them busy. People be. So we actually, what we did is we transferred into other divisions. Nobody lost their franchise, but it just, just wasn't enough work.

I think people are liking the Jim's Premier removal for the shirt design. We've got that comment coming in there now from. From Andy and from Sean as well. Jim's Premier Removals, they love it. So that might be the shirt. So that might be the one to go. And then Luke Juergens might be very busy, busy, busy service. If that one gets up and going, then Luke Jurgens gone. Jim, I was talking the other day with another gardening contractor the other day, and we're talking about Jim's plus. And he talked to me that he was only paying around $10 for a lead. But myself as a mining franchise, I'm paying around $18 for a lead. Wouldn't it be better if the Jim's guys paid less than the Jim's plus, as we pay franchise fees and a Jim's plus user doesn't. Tough question, Luke.

Yeah, well, look, it's been set up now. The guy's out of date. We did charge less in the past. Now we make sure that every gym person pays at least the same amount. And what will actually happen is we're setting up a bidding system which is operating to some extent so that instead of going to the person with the highest rating above a certain level, it goes to the highest bid. So in some areas, like antennas, it's pushed up the value of the lead over many times over what Jim's guys pay and that's going to be more of the case as we get more independent contractors on, they'll start to compete for jobs and they'll bid up the price and so instead of you paying $18, somebody will pay 30 or 35 and because the idea of that of course is that after you've got a great operator who's paying this ridiculous price and you go to them and say, listen, why don't you become part of gyms and you only pay this much and you get priority over everybody else. So that's the.

And that's. I think you're in mowing now Luke, which is your Eric's son, I think so you're one of the three dogwash, cob, mobile, coffee and now mowing. So I think that's old information, Luke as well as Jim said, it's definitely not, not the case anymore.

We've checked it out. There isn't anybody in Jim's plus paying less than a gyms guy and I would hope with time they'll pay a lot more.

Luke at Colbrook's gone so we have a hellofresh and a few other dinners ideas. Will Jim's be doing a range? So we do have Jim's Home Fresh Luki and I think Jim's Home Fresh. I don't know if they do the meal ideas but I know they have all the great ingredients that you can do but it's probably something you should check out on their website. I reckon Jim's Home Fresh.

I think they're going to do recipes actually, which they are.

Well there we go. So they're working on that Luki. So keep an eye out for Jim's Home Fresh. We'll announce it when they do. But they're really, really good. Check out their website then Christina Levrotis has gone here. You're a legend, Jim. Keep up the good fights. We've got a lot of that coming through and Paul Evans has gone world economic collapse. And I know Paul Evans has been fording through a lot of mowing guys for the council photos too but he's predicting a world economic collapse. I don't know about you Jim, or what are you thinking?

Not, not out of this. We'll get over it, we'll get past it. I mean most of the world is through the worst and recovering at least this more the first world countries so it's going to be a bad time but I mean let's face it, I mean it's bad but we're in a recession but it's not like it's 50% unemployment, so something like 15% or something like that. So it's bad but we can, you know, governments can borrow money, a lot of money these days quite cheaply. So that's what's going to happen. We're just going to mortgage ourselves for future generations. I do think we've overdone the reaction, especially in Victoria. I don't. I think the damage that it's caused is not worth the infections, saving infections. But anyway, people, that's what people want. I guess that's what's going to happen.

Now Wade Ashton's tuning says evening Chancellor. G' day Wade. Put some questions in there which is fantastic. Now Jeff Lees has gone let's get gymed covering Victoria as one of the shirt slogans. Let's get jimmed covering Victoria. Not a bad one. That's a good original one. Then Sue Small's gone here Jim Joel, I can reach Professor Allen so I don't know Professor Allen's but Sue, I think Sue's one offering to do the shirt. So sue, we've got some shirt ideas and we'll be in contact tomorrow regarding that as well. Then Paul Stoney's gone here. Getting the lawn cut is a health issue. This time of year the grass grows fast. Not being able to cut the lawn for three months, we'll see very long grass and rats running everywhere. From Paul Stoney.

That's right, yeah. I mean one of the weird things about this is that it's all based on the sensual need. So apparently it's absolutely essential. The Premier has an absolutely immaculate lawn because that's essential to public safety. But of course the pensioner can have knee high grass with rats running around and that's not important at all. So who defines essential need? Certainly not the Health Department, that's for sure.

Absolutely. And Sue Small's gone, Professor Allen and then John Naran's gonna vote for Jim as Premier. We're getting a lot of that as well. Then Jeff's gone diesel sump oil. That might be regarding the thing before. Now Ben Wilson's gone. The fact that you can call down a dictator and not be thrown in the gulag shows most don't know what a dictator is. That's from Ben Wilson on one of the feeds.

It's true in a way. I mean obviously we're not quite in a situation of being in China or Russia or somewhere but it's not as good as you think. I mean just for example When I spoke up originally about this issue, the police commissioner was ordered basically told everybody, target Jim's mowing. In other words, let's get Jim back. And what's interesting too is this business of compensation. That's something we're going to post on the Facebook live. We've got this advice about how to go compensation and you can apply to the government for compensation which under the law you should be entitled to. But when they knock it back, which of course they will, you've got to appeal to VCAT. Now you, you would think VCAT's part of the judiciary, but from what I've been told, the state government completely controls that and they can actually put enough pressure on these guys to knock back all appeals. So I mean, it's gone a long way. We're not a dictatorship. One big reason of course is that we've got a free media, but apart from that, we pretty much elect a dictatorship. I mean people vote for Putin in Russia. That's what people don't realize. It's not actually a dictatorship as such, but you elect somebody and they stay in power. The big difference is there the media is cowed and here it's quite bold.

Well over there, if you talk to Russians, I've been to Russia, they actually, a lot of them like Putin, very strong. They like a strong man over there, a strong, forceful leader taking it up to the west. So it's quite popular.

But when you shut down or poison the opposition and control the media, it's not hard to have a. You're quite right. I wouldn't get much of a go in Russia if I was trying to do the same thing. The police have been knocking on my door saying, okay Jim, come with us.

They've been off to the gulag Gulags in Siberia. There you go. The Damien Don says if they are open to then burn the stumps with the wood you cut down. Just do it safe in a 44 gallon drum. So that's from David to Steve as well then Paul Evans is saying GFC times 10,000. Let's hope not, Paul. That's the case now Kat Swinton's gone. We can't hide from dying. It's a part of life and this is a bad flu season. Being immune compromised, I can't wear a mask but constantly get the go, catch COVID and die even though I'm one of the vulnerable people that apparently needs saving. Discriminated against in shops is getting ridiculous. Jim's coffee sounds alright too.

Yes, it's very hard. I mean look, for most of us, I think mask is a very minor thing. Obviously if you can't wear them, you can't. But I mean if it slightly reduce the risk of infection and doesn't cost anybody their jobs, I think you just got to be careful about how many people you throw out of work because that has terrible consequences.

Yeah, we put it. And you've heard a lot, you've put a lot of stories and stuff up as well during the week and last week as well. So make sure guys, you check on that. And we're going to put up the advice straight after this. I'm going to stay up late and make sure I post that where you can do the compensation and you can download all those forms because you went and got that, paid that off your own back, didn't you Jim? That legal advice?

Yes.

Yeah. So that's going to be available for everyone. Matthew Dwyer's got a wood BlackBerry poison from Bunnings is 25 bucks. Drill the tree and fill. So it's from Matt Dwight giving advice there as well. Now Wendy Wright's gone, started gym's exercise group with the freedom slogan. We can all wear the T shirts to do our one hour exercise in a public place.

Yeah, well, I don't know. You're allowed to do it in the public place. You have to do it over zoom or something.

That's had to be rich. I walked the missus, the girlfriend's dog in the Richmond dog park over here. I can tell you what, there's groups of eight people sitting close together and it's right next to a police station and you had the whole park filled with people within close vicinity. It was quite, it was quite rich.

Of course, if you wanted to, if you wanted to get really close people in big numbers, all you've got to do is to carry a few placards saying black lives matter and then thousands is okay cheap by jail. No problem at all. You just got to carry the right slogans, that's all. That's, that's the message.

That's true. Then look how Carol's going. Hey, Jim, loving you. You're sticking it to dictator Dan. More importantly though, how is the epigenetic drug coming along? I think a lot of people would love to know the latest update on that. All the best.

Well, we've got some great experiments going actually and by the middle of next year we hope to have some very strong results. We're testing a lot of things. We're testing cytokines, hormones, microbiome, pheromones. Microrna, all kinds of stuff to see if ways we can, we can do this. And you know, we're going to test to see what these mental health benefits that we're looking for.

That's really exciting stuff. So keep that updated. We'll post some stuff when that comes out. And then as well we're going here. Wendy White on our own course with matching face masks. Dave McDonald is every country, if every country is in debt, who do we owe the money to? The neptunians from Dave McDonald.

Oh, well, it's individuals who own the money. Individuals and companies are the ones that lend it to the governments. So the governments are in debt, but the people are. One of the strange things about the modern world is there's a huge amount of investment money sloshing around looking for a place to go. And there's not so many good investments because the interest rates are so low. But which is also why the stock market's beat up to a ridiculous degree despite the crisis, because what else do you do with money? People have got money, they've got to do something with it. So that's what they're doing. Even in some countries it's negative. You lend the country a million dollars and you'll get back $998,000, which is ridiculous.

Then our cat Swin's got a Jim's Personal Training T shirt. We do have a Jim's Personal Training division there, Cat. So that is a, that is a shirt that actually exists. And we've got a few more questions here as well. Haydar tuning, which is fantastic. Okay, Christian, Christian's going. I've seen council workers constantly in point, Cook, and I don't see why the premier won't allow sole traders to work. It makes absolutely no sense. And I have a feeling the premier isn't too sure about what he's doing either.

Sorry. I think he probably does. I think it is. It's a very simple thing. Sole operators, independent minded, probably vote Liberal, council workers, member of a strong union, give lots of money to the Labour Party. I mean, he knows what he's doing. He's the premier is, how can I say it? He's not being competent at handling the crisis. But he's no fool. He's a very, very, very cunning politician. Which is one reason that I say if enough, there's enough resistance to this lockdown, he'll change his tune pretty fast because the one thing he's going to look after, I mean health and every mental health that can go by the wayside, but the Personal welfare and the Premier, that will be top of, top of mind for him and he'll do whatever he needs to, to make himself look good.

Well, this lockdown thing's getting a bit of traction online today. Has that revelation come out that it wasn't the c. The Chief Medical Officer's advice at all? It was some. It was, think his parties or whoever he was advising him. So it was nothing to do with them. And he's giving a lot of heat online at the moment, actually, for that. About the lockdown. People are saying for the lockdown to be removed asap.

There's no, there's no rationality behind what they've done. There's no, there's no clear health. They actually refuse to say what the health benefits are or why. We've shut down certain things, not others, because if you ever actually knew the reason, you'd see politics, politics, politics, politics all the way through. Health is just nowhere to be seen.

Bill Wilson's gone. The guy running against Putin has just been poisoned. But sure, Russia and Australia are the same. Well, that's a good point. Ben and Jim didn't mention that, so we're just catching up there as well.

Yeah, I did too. Look, I think. I think the point is this. No, we're not as bad as Russia. We're absolutely not as bad as Russia, but we have never been as close. We've never had a situation where governments have had, in Australia, have had such arbitrary power. So, yes, we're heading in the direction of Russia. I think it's very important that we don't go the full way. That's my concern. Not that we're there already. We aren't. As I said, we've got a free media. We don't poison. I haven't been. I haven't been poisoned by the government. We're not there yet, but we're moving in that direction. And the degree of arbitrary power that the Premier has, that he can change anything by his whim and nobody can stop him, nobody can hold him to account. That's a very alarming trend.

I'd love to know the people who he's getting advice from. I just don't know these, these experts, there's no transparency in data and stuff. And they put up a simple, really simple graphic, you know, which is supposed to represent all these mountains of data. And he was getting questions today about, well, won't the data change if you've got better contract tracing, won't projections change that? And you can't answer the questions? The Jenny Evans gone. When are you opening up dog dog Wash again? Well, from Jenny, I don't know, until maybe the 28th, hopefully. I don't know. Dog wash, would that be come under?

Well, the trouble is the guidelines are so vague. Dog salons are not till sometime in October supposedly. But don't forget the Premier can change this anytime he likes. There's no, there's no guidelines as to exactly what can, but we would think mobile dog wash probably from the 28th, but who knows?

There's gonna be a lot of overgrown dogs there. I know that from talking to some dogwash franchisees that a lot of their clients are taking pictures off their dogs saying, let's say Billy misses you or getting out of control. So hopefully the dog watch can start up straight away then. Jason Pollock says would love a mobile cafe on the New South Wales central coast. I think that would do very well. Absolutely, Jason. We need them everywhere.

It's a, it's actually an extremely good business. I think Eric might tell me, I think he was making like $4,000 a week before the lockdown. It was a very, very good business and it's a great business. Eric's a very sociable guy so he loves talking to people and here's his regulars and stuff and he's built it. I think it's a fantastic business model and everybody's seen the, the vans, they look, they look brilliant with the orange and the black stripes and stuff.

It definitely stands out there, Ben.

It's a great business. We think it's quite exciting actually. I believe there'll be hundreds of these one day.

I hope so then Gary Hertog's gone. New franchise at your gym's. Government training Premiers. You elect them, we'll correct them. That's the slogan.

I wish I could. I wish I could.

Very good one there Gary. Well done. If I could post that books to you Gary, you'd be a fair chance I reckon, but I can't. Then Kirk Wells has got no free media in Australia anymore. From Kirk Wells then we've got Paul Stoney's gone here. One of the team that developed Dan's modeling has come out and said Dan is using the wrong info into it. He's putting in info that they, that they contact 25% of infected people in 24 hours. This is what was happening when it got out of control. Now the contract tracing is improved, the numbers are very different. If you feed in the new numbers, the restrictions will come off a lot quicker and the numbers they need to get down Are a lot, a lot more. Another day, another stuff up from the dictator.

Yes, differences of opinion that was put to him today.

Paul. I don't know if you watched the press comments, but a lot I'm watching him every day and that was put to him today and he basically didn't answer the question that when that was put to him from the journalist, Paul. So he's completely spot on as well. Then John renders gone. What was the difference in lockdown between us and New Zealand? Question mark from John. Hope you're well.

New Zealand locked down for a month, including gardening, gardening contractors. But one of the differences is is that they locked down everybody. They didn't have council gardeners doing things in groups. Everybody was locked down for four weeks. But we're talking about a much longer period, a minimum of eight weeks when it's very, very obviously the difference. You know, people, council gardeners. Yes, okay, fine. Groups. Anything up? No trouble. Private operators. Not in New Zealand. They were more fair, they were more even handed. And I have a lot of respect for what Jacinda Arden did. I don't think it's a matter of liberal versus labor. You've got a fairly competent and reasonably humane and consistent government as compared with one that's very, very arbitrary and driven by politics rather than health.

Thanks for that comment, John. Some people in your comments and questions there 100 people watching, which is fantastic. Then Luke Jurgens replied to John, says John, they ended theirs when they said they would. Unlike Dan who isn't sure when he'll end ours or end it.

Yeah, look, we could well be off until Christmas. There's no doubt at all. I don't think the premier would mind one little scrap if 20,000 people go broke because as far as he's concerned, that's great. They all go on the dole, which is dependent on the government more likely to vote labor or they go work for large corporations and again becoming unionized. So from his point of view, it's not really a loss if small businesses are wiped out.

It's quite concerning, isn't it? Then Yan's gone. Yan Jupe's gone. Daniel Andrews said that on Sunday the following under the second step in metropolitan Melbourne will get more people back to work. Some 100,000 workers across construction, manufacturing and landscape, garden and maintenance workers who operate alone. The statement says operate alone. Does it mean teams of two people cannot travel together or operate the same garden? Is there a way to confirm this point which is critical to many mowing franchisees?

The way I understand operate Alone will be it. Unless you work for the council. But yes, which is going to be hard and it means a lot of people can't be employed. But most of our franchisees are actually loan operators or if not, they could actually have a separate vehicle going around and doing different lawns. So if you had a worker, you could say, you do that property, I'll do this property. So hopefully we'll be able to get most of our people back to work. But the main thing is my franchisees are out there making a living. Honestly. I mean, I don't like to see anybody lose their job, but my franchisees are my top priority.

Thanks for that. Thanks for that comment there, Yan And Paul Stoney's gone. Go back to 2009 and look up when Dan was Health Minister. He got caught fudging the data and if you read through, you will find he uses all the same excuses, lines, etc as now. Now it's his game plan. Doesn't surprise me. Then Chris Mains is going to. Jim, what do you think the Premier's end goal of all of this scheming you accuse him of? What does he have to gain by people disliking him? Question mark.

Oh, no, I think he. I think he's got. No, he's guided by. If the majority of people turned against the. I've told you, he's a very clever politician. If the majority people turned against him, then he would, he would, he would free the economy up and we are moving in that direction. It's more and more every. Every week. You can see it happening. But the point of it is really that these restrictions are not fair. They're applied based on politics. I mean, I would say that if you're going to put restrictions in, the real important thing is how likely is this to cause somebody to be infected now, instead of the question is how much does this particular group people contribute to Labor Party coffers? Who's likely to vote for me at the next election and who's not? I mean, how do you just. Which do you go by? Now, the Premier says should be politics. I say no, should be health. And we should be looking at the maximum benefit of the community, not on the maximum political benefit of the Premier. How can you possibly argue, how can anybody possibly say why council workers in groups are allowed to do the same job that privateers cannot? There is no possible health reason for that. It is politics, politics, politics. And if you want a person to govern politically, then he's your man. But if you want someone to preserve the Community's health. Well, he's a pathetically bad leader.

And Frank's going from home. Fresh Mobile Cafe is a very professional setup. Absolutely. The vans are awesome and they're fitted out. And if you do see Eric go for a coffee, then Paul Stoney's gone. If the postman can deliver the mail, then Jim's mowing can cut the lawns, which is a good point.

Yes. In actual fact, they're probably even safer because the postman's got to touch letters and if he gets it, somebody else get it from the letters, whereas we don't touch any, anything. It's probably the safest job in the country. It's probably a lot safer than most white collar jobs because by the nature of it, we're out all the outside all the time alone. It's an incredibly safe job. There's far, far, far more chance of getting infected by being out of work and going for a walk or a jog or go to the shops or go to the bottle shop than they would be mowing a lawn. And that's what's so ridiculous about it, this terrible suffering and hurt that's inflicted. And the giant hole taken out of the Victorian economy is zero, zero benefit in terms of health.

And you just have to go to any coffee place where people get takeaway coffees, like I do every morning. You're standing in there, you're touching, you're giving the card to the person, you're touching the cup from there, touching their cup. So, yeah, it's very, very crazy.

Look, the excuse they give, they don't want people moving around, but let's face it, you're driving a private car to a property where you don't have any contact with anybody. I mean, unless you're driving down the road tossing out virus bombs, right, left and center, how on earth can the distance you travel make any difference? You're not infecting anybody at all. Not possibly much, much less than going for a walk, which you're perfectly allowed to do. So where's the logic? Where's the sense? And of course, he flatly refuses to explain why. I've asked him many times for this question. I mean, okay, there's a simple answer, Premier, give it to us, tell us exactly how. Show us the statistics, show us the surveys, show us the health expert, health advice. How can you. If he has all this information, why doesn't he share it?

Yeah, I think the lack of transparency with the data that's always being referred to or the findings is quite concerning. I don't know why that won't be done.

Yeah, he says, I listened to expert advice. Well, he had expert advice. He had expert advice from the Department of Health and Human Services, which was prepared very elaborately. Page does about eight pages of detailed information at the top of it, right at the top. Solar pledge, working alone. That is expert advice carefully worked out. At a press conference a few days later, he says, no mowing, no gardening. Where's your expert advice, Premier? What did you change your mind at? I have challenged him again and again to explain. He cannot give an explanation so that means he doesn't have one. What happened is he just spoke up at a premier. He blurted it out and said, look, if I back down, I might be seen as weak. Oh yeah, I might save a few lives, but I might be seen as weak. Politically speaking. It was a very smart move from a point of view of humanitarianism, it was. It's pretty evil.

So for anyone watching, guys, make sure, if you want to need people to hear this, click the share button. Guys let Jim know and they can jump on if they're an independent small trader as well so they can find out more details later on and how to join the claim. Robin, Scotty, I wish we had a Jim's Handyman in Maitland. We would definitely have plenty of work. Absolutely. Jim's Handyman. We need more franchisees in that one. They can do a of lot, lot of stuff. The Malcolm Bradley tune on now.

Here we go.

Wendy Wright. Please everyone, keep lobbying all MPs, both sides, Victorian and federal as well. The pressure from all sides will make a difference. Every time I get mad, I send an email to a group of politicians. Even just one issue. Not rude, just how's, how's it impacting you? Although they might, you might not get a reply to that one. They cannot ignore the volume of emails they are receiving.

That is true. That is. That is the best thing you can do. Pass it around and pass it to MPs.

Then Paul Stoney's gone. He won't answer questions. He is a master poly. Just watch how he uses the media when he says a reporter's name, you can bet that that news channel only uses that grab that night. Absolutely. Well, he's a master politician, as Jim's been saying, isn't he? So he knows that back to Front. And Dave McDonald says the problem with the numbers is how many are within the health care, aged care and essential services. The lockdown won't slow the spread in these places unless contract tracing is fixed and we can keep the Virus out of the aged care system.

You've got the federal government coming in and saying, come on, let us help you, let us help you, let us help you. Victorian Look, I mean the health workers that are working in the field, they are dedicated and brave people, but denied the resources, denied the leadership to do the job properly. It's shameful. And I don't want to denigrate anybody. I don't want to denigrate council gardeners either too. That's very important. I don't object to them having a job, I really don't. I just think there shouldn't be a double standard.

Well, the HK one's interesting people. You know, you can't blame the lady who has to work multiple shifts to support her family, going from one place to another. And if she's got a runny nose, she's not going to go get tested. And they should have accounted for this stuff. I can't believe they didn't even have the foresight to think of what if people are working at multiple facilities and they get a little bit sick? They're not going to stop to get tested.

Yeah, I mean, it's pathetic. I know people have to, they've been in contact with somebody infected and they have to lie to say they've got, they've got symptoms to get tested. I mean, I mean, it's crazy. It's like you're not $10 billion off the, off the economy of the state, but you won't spend $10,000 giving proper resources to people who can, who can make the situation better. It's an incredible incompetence.

I think the best example of the incompetence is the funeral stuff and Tobin Brothers, I think they put in 140 applications to have one extra person above the 10 person limit. And there was a baby, a five month baby, got denied from her own father's funeral. Right. And I had to go to Channel seven. And then once they ran the story in Channel seven, then the application got approved, which I just think was astounding. The Minty Wells gone here for something different. Jim, when you started mowing, do you remember when you first thought this was going to be successful for Minty Wells? That's a change of direction, that one.

It took me a long time to figure it might work out. Actually. I always thought my mowing lawns was just temporary until something better come along. I tried a lot of stuff too. I tried. I had a computer shop at one time, I had a mower repair shop. I had a try to Get a tourist venture going. I did all kinds of stuff. And it's just that the mowing thing just took off gradually, gradually, gradually, until I said, that isn't too bad, this thing.

There you go. Minty. That's a great question. Thanks for that one. And changing the tune of it.

Eric.

Jerry's gone, says Jim. You were right when you said that I was taking in $4,000 per week, and that was even in June this year during COVID Best decision I ever made, starting with Jim's mama, Cafe Victoria, once I found the right way to run it.

Yeah, yeah, that's right, too. It took Eric quite a while to figure out, you know, the special places on the side of the road. And he's got customers who actually know him. And so when he's coming up to him, they actually text him ahead and he has their drink ready and this kind of stuff. He's got a great. Eric's a very engaging guy. So you gotta have the right personality for this job. But. But you got to like people.

That one. You can't not like people and do that.

So I wouldn't. I wouldn't be good at it. I'm a bit worried people don't like me. Especially not the premier, too.

Oh, yeah, definitely. When we're giving him a good coffee, the fam's gone. Should we campaign to lower XMP's pensions? No plan. Dan is on 440k per annum and we'll get 67% of that index for the rest of his life. Yeah. He wouldn't even consider a pay cut considering everyone's caused. He's caused. Financial hardship to his now and future income are obscene. Good point.

Yeah. There's a lot of difference between people who are on comfortable salaries, like politicians and bureaucrats and professionals, and they're generally the ones that tend to think, hey, you know, who cares about little things? You actually see things in the paper about how nice it is and how they don't have to travel anymore to commute and how it's quieter and greenhouse gases are going. All the. All the positive things about it. Okay, there's a few negatives too, but it's pretty positive. But they don't. Think of the poor sods who are out there who've lost their jobs and lost their businesses and are suffering and stress and terrible.

I think the lack of empathy by people in those positions is astounding. You know, no one's got. You need emotional intelligence to be a good leader, and none of them do.

Have it, but it's also. It's also probably true, to be fair, that they don't know anybody. I mean, the premier would not talk to small businesses. Maybe he'd go up and say, cup of coffee or might you get an aide to do it? He just doesn't have any contact with people like that. He doesn't talk to myself, who speak for tens of thousands. Do you think he'd ever talk to an independent contractor like a lawnmower or a cleaner or poor. He wouldn't. It wouldn't be in his universe. He's surrounded by minions who are probably surrounded by people themselves. They're cut off from real life in a way that's quite extraordinary. There's educated elites and powerful elites and they really don't see much outside their own little bubble.

But where it will affect him. I know he's got a kid, he goes to school, so I know they can't go to physically to school, but I wouldn't want to be his son. I can tell you that right now. At the moment, the number's gone. Hi, Joel. Jim seems to mainly refer to Jim's moving franchisees. What about all other divisions from Ember, from arm, Especially the divisions who work indoors as well, by the looks of it, other divisions won't get back to work for months. So Emma's from Jim's blind cleaning and repairs division.

Look, each division is going to have to have its own. He specifically mentioned gardeners, almost certainly, because I've been hammering on the subject. But we're going to widen that wedge as much as possible to see who we can get into it. I would say people like pool care, fences, dog wash, lots of different divisions could be in that. Window cleaners on the outside. Clearly the same thing. Now, as to getting inside the houses, well, but that depends too on when you're talking about on a site. If the house is empty, for example, you are alone on the site, which is often the case with our people that have keys and they get in by themselves. So the thing is, nobody really knows what the guidelines are. They don't know them now. They won't know them then, but we'll. We'll push them as hard as we can, I can tell you, to get our people back to work if they can do so safely. I mean, we do take precautions. You know, our people will not go into houses with COVID infections and they're very careful about not passing infected, being infected. But where it's safe and reasonable, then we'll certainly try and get them back into work again.

The Key to that inverse. Jim's going to keep pushing and keep doing the media as much as possible and all the platforms he can do to keep pushing the case for everyone.

I think it's, it's very important to recognize too that Jim's franchisees are probably better off than most people in the industry for a start they tend to make a lot more money and also we've got a system of mutual support and encouragement, you know, people ringing each other and franchisors talking and so forth and there's even people in other states who volunteered to provide money and resources and counseling and all kinds of things. So our guys are badly off. But the ones I feel most sorry for, a lot of those independents, they're just really devastated by this and they've just got nowhere to go, nowhere to turn.

Luke James gone region of Victoria should be already back in stage two except for probably for Geelong as the cases in regional Vic is close to non existence which is. And he's still keeping him locked down. I feel sorry for regional Victoria. Ben Wilson Jim, do you think that, do you think Murdoch is too powerful and has too much sway over public opinion based on his mass media ownership from Ben Wilson?

No, I think Murdoch's great because in practice what you see is that the opposition to this thing is being led by a News Corp. If you look at the left wing papers like the left wing media like the, the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Fairfax Press, the obviously the abc, basically the extreme green left. If it wasn't for Murdoch you'd have an overwhelmingly left wing media. It's interesting, we're watching, everybody watched the loudest voice in the room. It's about Roger what his name is the one who founded Fox Media and it was Murdoch money that did it. But one thing that each guy recognized is that even though there was three existing cable channels they were all way left of center. And he came up and said but listen, most people aren't left of center. So they started up Fox Media which actually had was run on a shoestring relatively speaking. Well not by our standards but by standards of the other minute they were spending back a third as much money as something like CNN and they became the leading, the dominant force because they spoke for the people who weren't of the left. So I think the Murdoch papers actually, and I am very appreciative of News. Com AU which is a bit of an ordinary site actually.