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Speaker 1: Morning, seven past seven. So we get two COVID inquiries.

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Speaker 1: The current one will complete its work this year, and

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Speaker 1: then Part two begins asking the sort of questions Part

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Speaker 1: one should have but didn't, and then that is the

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Speaker 1: politics of it all. Of course. The Minister of Internal Affairs,

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Speaker 1: brook Lynvelden has well, it's very good morning to you.

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Speaker 1: Good morning mate, David Seymour Gavid Away. I think on

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Speaker 1: this program a couple of weeks ago when I asked

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Speaker 1: him about it in generally he talked about the sanctity

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Speaker 1: of what is already underway and the importance of that,

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Speaker 1: and you just can't muck with that. Is that part

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Speaker 1: of what's driven your decision?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that is part of my decision making. Look, I

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Speaker 2: know that there are some concerns with the original now

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Speaker 2: phase one of the inquiry, but there's a larger question

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Speaker 2: at play here, and that's how much do we wish

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Speaker 2: to respect our democratic institutions? And that's really important for me.

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Speaker 2: It's unprecedented to end a Royal Commission. So what will

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Speaker 2: happen now is the Royal Commission or now Phase one,

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Speaker 2: will report back to me in November and in new

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Speaker 2: terms of reference, with new Commissioners will now take its place,

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Speaker 2: coming back in February twenty twenty six, and I think

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Speaker 2: that is really the only forward as quite an elegant solution.

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Speaker 1: How much of a jack up do you see Part

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Speaker 1: one as I.

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Speaker 2: Think there are actually quite a few areas that will

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Speaker 2: be quite important for Part one to focus on, and

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Speaker 2: I think the Commissioners will actually do a good job

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Speaker 2: in realm looking at things like the health response of

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Speaker 2: the government and the government's communication where I think people

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Speaker 2: are looking for more focus. And what Phase two will

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Speaker 2: focus on are things like the government's response and how

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Speaker 2: that was weighed up against education, health, business inflation, what

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Speaker 2: it's response did to debt and business activity, the social

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Speaker 2: division that was caused in our society, and importantly also

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Speaker 2: touches on New Zealand first commitment where they wish to

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Speaker 2: look into vaccine efficacy. So it's a bit broader in range.

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Speaker 2: I think answers a lot of those questions that will

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Speaker 2: be on the top of people's minds. Was the government

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Speaker 2: to fixate on just one aspect of its response?

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Speaker 1: Do you have sympathy for Peter's.

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Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think I think many many people have

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Speaker 2: concerned about the current commissioners. But look, what I would

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Speaker 2: say to that is I've actually had some really really

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Speaker 2: good discussions with both of the current commissioners. They were

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Speaker 2: both very open, very honest, and that's how we've led

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Speaker 2: to having now two phases where the two current commissioners

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Speaker 2: will be resigning in November, and now we'll have new

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Speaker 2: commissioners and a new path forward which everybody is united by.

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Speaker 2: I think there's just one little discrepancy on how much

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Speaker 2: we wish to pay weight on the time and the

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Speaker 2: resources and the evidence gathered to date for Phase one.

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Speaker 1: Fly on the wall, you and Peters in a room

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Speaker 1: together explaining it to each other. How grow did it get?

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Speaker 2: Look, I actually have really good relationships across government, so look,

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Speaker 2: I don't I don't tend to get aggressive in any

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Speaker 2: real situation. What I would say is that we just

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Speaker 2: have three parties that are working really well together. You'll

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Speaker 2: note that we're all united in the past forward. It's

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Speaker 2: just that we had a little disagreement on one of

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Speaker 2: the aspects of the past. So you know, I think

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Speaker 2: actually we work quite well as the government.

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Speaker 1: Okay, who's going to lead and what sort of person

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Speaker 1: will that be? Part two?

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Speaker 2: Well, what I'm looking for for the new commissioners is

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Speaker 2: a range of experience in a legal background as well

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Speaker 2: as economics background and ideally having a health background as well.

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Speaker 2: So that's the ideal mix up. In August, I'll be

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Speaker 2: coming back with the exact names and the terms of

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Speaker 2: reference all signed off, but at this stage I can't

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Speaker 2: say who exactly will be there. We're still working our

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Speaker 2: way through those details.

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Speaker 1: Nice to talk to you, Brook van Belden, out of

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Speaker 1: the Act Party, Minister for Internal Affairs. Eleven minutes past seven.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks that'd be from six am weekdays.

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