Industrial Relations Minister Tim Pallas says a “circuit-breaker” lockdown was needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 cases in the construction industry.

“We need to reset and restart this industry in a way that’s safe, and doesn’t undermine the public health efforts that every Victorian has been working so hard to ensure,” he told Heidi Murphy on 3AW Drive.

Mr Pallas said the state government found a lack of COVID-safe measures in the industry was rife after it conducted a safety blitz.

“What the authorised officers found … was that almost 50 per cent of those workplaces did not have COVID-safe practices in place,” he said.

“Now that doesn’t mean every business was doing the wrong thing, but what it does mean is that far too many were.”

The Minister also slammed the protests that ground the city to a halt on Tuesday.

“The protests themselves were quite reprehensible really, quite shocking, and I think it’s appalling what we’ve seen.” he said.

“It’s been nothing short of criminal behaviour, let’s be frank.”

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