Tuesday, 26 August 2025

E&OE

Peter Stefanovic:

That's the Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announcing changes to child safety laws. And on that note, actually, let's bring in the the Opposition Industrial Relations Minister who's also a Victorian, Tim Wilson. Tim, thanks for your time. A couple of notes on Victoria today that I wanted to get your thoughts on. First of all, that's just breaking news. That is fresh there. Do you have a thought on that to immediately suspend Working With Children Checks for individuals who are under reassessment? Have you got a thought on that as that's breaking?

Tim Wilson:

Well, I just think the situation the Victorian government's facing is they've overseen a mess. They're trying to clean up as fast as possible and play catch-up. We, of course, want to see that catch-up done as quickly as possible because child safety must be paramount. The Premier has said that's at the fore of her remarks today and their focus and there's been a bipartisan effort nationally to make sure that the clean-up job can be done as quickly as possible. Therefore, that's obviously positive.

Peter Stefanovic:

Yep, so just on a couple of other notes too, and Victoria, sorry to interrupt you there Tim, I'm trying to squeeze a lot in here. There's a couple interesting pieces in the AFR. One of them is that the chief executive of the plumbing giant, Reece, he's warned today that innovation and productivity has been stifled in Victoria in a call to investors saying it's the toughest place in the country to do business because of the struggle to get workers into the office. What are your thoughts on that?

Tim Wilson:

Well this doesn't surprise anybody and that's why when you've got a populist Premier doing what she's doing which is issuing press releases rather than a plan around work from home over the past couple of weeks and gaslighting workers, it has a long tail consequence. Other Premiers are licking their chops thinking this is great, we're going to see more businesses leave Victoria, more investment leave Victoria and you've got a lot of existing businesses questioning what their viability is, the reality is. We need businesses, we need jobs, we need economic growth. And the biggest risk is we have people at home and it's because they haven't got jobs. That's why getting the balance is important, that's why getting the balance needs to be part of any plan. And that isn't what the government is seeking to do at the moment.

Peter Stefanovic:

Well another business that appears to be going backwards is Endeavour Group also in Victoria running Dan Murphy's and BWS elsewhere as well around the country but it says its bottom line is being hit in Victoria because of rising crime which is leading to staffing shortages. You were just talking about staffing so I mean what are your thoughts on this? What's happened to the great state of Victoria?

Tim Wilson:

Well, the great state of Victoria has been governed by the Labor Party basically now for about 25, almost all of the past 25 years, and they've only done a number of things. They've increased taxes, they've increased regulation, they've increased rigidity in the economy and, of course, they're now in a position of debt where it now controls the state sadly. So, of course, basic things like police and emergency services that people depend upon are no longer provided. So crime has become a significant problem across the entire community. And of course that's another compounding factor. You need a change of government if you want to see a change in outcomes in the state of Victoria, because you need a change in mindset, which is focused on growth, economic opportunity and safety.

Peter Stefanovic:

Yet the Libs can't get a look in.

Tim Wilson:

Well, the election isn't until next year, but the key thing they need to put forward is a clear plan that grows the economy, builds out hope, particularly hope, and builds out an economic and energy future for the state and addresses some of the big structural challenges the state faces.

Peter Stefanovic:

Let's get to your wheelhouse, Tim. The next phase of a new controversial law in Australia comes into effect today. Millions more workers at small businesses that employ fewer than 15 people have the right to disconnect outside work hours. I mean, it's already come into play. It's now underway, but what are your thoughts on that today?

Tim Wilson:

Well, I think the challenge for a lot of small business owners out there in the country is they want to be able to disconnect from their small business and spend time with their family and friends too. And so if you're in a small business today, please make sure you understand that the law is now going to apply to you, that you need to make sure that you understand what the law is. So if you are engaging with employees outside of normal work hours, that make sure you're on the right side of the law because whether or not you agree with it or not, you should obey the law. Because we need to make sure that small businesses are thriving and we need to make that they understand their compliance obligations.

Peter Stefanovic:

Just finally this breaking news, Tim want to get your thoughts if you've got one. Australia Post making the decision to basically cut its parcels to the United States because those at the lower end are the subject of American tariffs have you got a reaction to that from the Opposition today?

Tim Wilson:

Well, it's very concerning because a lot of small business depend on Australia Post to ship small goods internationally and domestically. So small businesses are going to be the ones most impacted by this decision. My expectation is the Albanese Government will sort this as quickly as possible. Look, in saying that the last time the Albanese Government said they had a relationship with another country, sorted it was Israel and we've seen where that's gone. We need government to engage. I suspect Kevin Rudd is going to be off to the White House or the Congress pretty quick-smart, because we need to make sure this relationship is sorted because this is a very bad sign.

Peter Stefanovic:

All right, Tim, we'll leave it there. Thanks for your time though.

END