Matt Wong

Sanjeev Sabhlok resigned in protest from the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance. He has a long history of campaigning for freedom, the individual, happiness and rational thinking.

To know that such an intellect was working within our public service in Victoria is encouraging but also devastating that they lost that intellect.

In this interview we explore not just his thoughts on the illegality and immorality of the lockdowns around the world, but also how he came to his classically liberal philosophy and how that informs his crusade to maximise the happiness of people all over the world.

If you’re old enough to remember the advent of computers – they used to be a specialised device sold in specialised stores for specialised purposes. Somewhere around the 1990s they became commoditised and now the choice of store is mainly determined by price.

Nathan Jungwirt has run a computer store for 6 years in a highly competitive and commoditised sector. Not only that, he has a keen interest in investing, e-commerce and entrepreneurialism.

If you are interested in e-commerce, small business, or investment – Nathan is an inspiring young Australian who is surprisingly well-read. If this is the standard of young Australians, we are in good hands!

Dr Catherine Fyans is a practising G.P. of some 40 years in Melbourne. She was one of the most popular guests in the history of my other show ‘The People’s Project’ where she was able to demonstrate common sense positions on COVID-19, masks and government lockdowns.

Catherine seems to have a great deal of empathy and she agreed to an interview for our EMPATHY SERIES where we sought to explore all things COVID-19 as well as the psychological role that lockdowns (and emerging from them) play in all of our lives.

When you think of the word ‘champion’, you probably think of a ‘winner’ -somebody who takes first place. But the true meaning of champion is more than winning a competition.

It’s a 13th Century concept for a person who fights on behalf of another. A champion advocates for something or someone, especially when that someone cannot do it themselves.

This is the noble goal of our political system but I’m sad to say that our parliaments are not necessarily filled with the people’s champions.
That’s why it’s so incredible to have found one in Angela Vithoulkas. It’s unlikely you’ve never heard about before because she is so noisy when it comes to small business being the engine room of our economy.

Angela is a sitting councillor for the City of Sydney, and is the founder and leader of the Small Business Political Party. She’s owned many small businesses, you’ve probably heard her on national television or radio, and she now brings all of that rich experience together into an excellent TV show called SMETV which you can see for free on Youtube. Despite all of this achievement, I think her most impressive feat is catching her first shoplifter at the age of 3.

In today’s conversation we’ll talk about how business can and will rise from the ashes of COVID-19, but what I really hope we discover is – why is Angela our champion? Was it always there? Or was it created by circumstance?

If you grew up in suburban Australia, you would be familiar with the green and gold trailers regularly appearing on our streets to mow our lawns. Jim’s Mowing has since expanded and the Jim’s Group is now the largest franchise in Australia and New Zealand with some 4,000 franchise owners turning over more than $500m a year serving 35,000 customers a day!

But don’t let the blue-collar grass mowing success story fool you – Dr David Jim Penman, that’s right…Dr, is an avid student of history and how its cyclical nature is determined by biology, epigenetics and character amongst other things.

Buckle up for a wild ride as we explore a huge range of topics including how civilisations are built, how to reverse their decline with epigenetics, why he is fighting the Victorian lockdown laws, and how Jim’s franchises are truly a family.

Arron Wood is not your typical politician. In fact, I’m not sure he’s a politician at all! Granted – he does hold the office of Deputy Lord Mayor for the City of Melbourne, and he is campaigning in next month’s council elections to become the Lord Mayor. But when I came across Arron on social media, it wasn’t via a political ad or a sponsored post. I simply noticed someone who was posting sympathetic, thoughtful, and engaging content, and perhaps most tellingly a majority of that interaction was in replies and comments to other people.

Political messaging is often unidirectional, and getting community leaders to listen and engage in a genuine way is rare but I’m convinced it’s the key to electoral success. It would be no surprise to me then should I be addressing Arron as Mr Mayor at the end of next month. And it’s my pleasure to welcome him to our Series on Business Innovation which explores how business can and will rise from the ashes of COVID-19, and the unprecedented lockdowns around the world.

Today we are going to the gym. My guest Pia Therese is a small business owner in Melbourne, Australia who risked it all and opened a fitness studio called MFW Fitness. Under what is now likely the world’s longest and most severe lockdown, small businesses like MFW have been smashed. And this is despite plenty of evidence that small businesses are not only willing but are capable of opening up in a COVID-Safe way.

Take for example gyms, where we are now learning that they were never a source of COVID transmission, and in fact are better equipped than the government to conduct deep contact tracing because of their detailed and close relationship with their members. This is to say nothing of the fact that COVID-19 is a disease of immunity, like all coronaviruses are, and yet we have seen no messaging from authorities on living a healthy life that encourages a robust immune system.

But It’s not just our bodies we are told to hide inside from this virus, daily messaging from our Premier downplays the incredible and growing mental health harms that result from lockdown rules that increasingly appear arbitrary and not based in science.

I’m hoping this conversation with Pia will give us an insight into what’s really happening with small businesses in Melbourne, and open up a broader conversation on what we all struggle with but don’t admit to anyone – mental health, social media, and the evolving definition of community.