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Speaker 1: Got a call from the Auckland mayor, Wayne Brown for

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Speaker 1: the central government to step in to do a whole

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Speaker 1: bunch of stuff reconsideration of a tourist bed tax, loosening

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Speaker 1: visa restrictions, and better preparation for population growth, among other things.

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Speaker 1: Brown's criticized the government for getting too distracted by megaprojects

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Speaker 1: and press releases. The Minister for Auckland Summing and Brown

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Speaker 1: is with us a me in morning, Good.

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Speaker 2: Morning, Mike.

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Speaker 1: Is Wayne Brown a pain?

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Speaker 2: Now? We work really well with Wayne. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: of areas that we're well aligned, particularly around transport investment,

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Speaker 2: investing in water infrastructure, unlocking land for growth. Look, these

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Speaker 2: areas that we also disagree with. We don't think we

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Speaker 2: need to lump Auckland as with a bednight tax. In fact,

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Speaker 2: I think the council needs to be looking more in

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Speaker 2: terms of its own budget to find efficiencies and that's

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Speaker 2: where he should be focusing rather than just putting new

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Speaker 2: taxes in place.

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Speaker 1: Is this all electioneering? Is he putting out press releases

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Speaker 1: because it's election year and he needs some profile and

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Speaker 1: all that stuff.

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Speaker 2: Of course it's election year, so of course the mayror

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Speaker 2: is putting his name out there and obviously talking about

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Speaker 2: the work he's doing, But I mean we are working

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Speaker 2: closely with him and the council on a range of

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Speaker 2: the issues that he's identified. As you know, last year

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Speaker 2: we did the deal around water care so we can

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Speaker 2: unlock a huge amount of more investment in water infrastructure

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Speaker 2: in Auckland. We're providing more powers back to Auckland Council

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Speaker 2: around actually getting Auckland transport under control. So a number

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Speaker 2: of the issues he's raising are certainly areas that we're

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Speaker 2: working closely with the council on because we recognize the

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Speaker 2: importance of Auckland. It's critically important that Auckland does well,

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Speaker 2: so that New Zealand does well and that we can

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Speaker 2: grow our economy. But at the same time there's some

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Speaker 2: areas where we will disagree with and that's the nature

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Speaker 2: of politics.

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Speaker 1: The visa thing he's been bringing on about is that

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Speaker 1: even his domain.

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Speaker 2: No that's an issue which my colleague, Honorable Ericus Stanford

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Speaker 2: is doing a lot of work on shoes made a

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Speaker 2: number of announcements or really this year and how we

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Speaker 2: can open up visa rules to get more tourists into

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Speaker 2: New Zealand. That's obviously a huge priority for the government

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Speaker 2: so we can grow our economy. But he's putting forward

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Speaker 2: his proposals and he engages closely with ministers. We're not

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Speaker 2: always going to agree with everything he says or wants,

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Speaker 2: but we're very much focused on how can we grow

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Speaker 2: New Zealand's economy. How can we grow Auckland's economy, because

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Speaker 2: that's good for New Zealanders. Think they have high paying

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Speaker 2: jobs and all the benefits that come with that.

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Speaker 1: Is the power balance about right or is he overreaching?

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Speaker 2: Look? I think he's doing his job. He's the mayor

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Speaker 2: of our largest city. He is clearly advocating strongly for

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Speaker 2: what he thinks is needed for Auckland. We engage closely

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Speaker 2: with him on those issues. But I think the key

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Speaker 2: thing is we're not always going to agree on everything.

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Speaker 2: We want to see Auckland thrive because that's good for

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Speaker 2: New Zealand. But as I said, there'll be some issues

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Speaker 2: that we don't agree on and that's natural politics.

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Speaker 1: Okay, not Auckland, but horror Fenna where we're talking to

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Speaker 1: them later on local council. They're doing a thing of votes.

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Speaker 1: They're going to give first DIBs to local mari on

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Speaker 1: Land apparently Taroona did it several years ago. Is this

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Speaker 1: where we need to be heading local body wise or not?

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Speaker 2: No, not at all. Councils need to get back to basics.

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Speaker 2: That's been the view of the government all along, whether

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Speaker 2: it's Auckland or it's Horror Fenyware, Councils need to get

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Speaker 2: back to basics and focus on those core services that

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Speaker 2: ratepayers expect them to be focused on. And we've been

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Speaker 2: incredibly clear about that as a government. And you know

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Speaker 2: some councils a heating message to see Wonganui District Council,

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Speaker 2: then you know they'll getting rid of the green bin

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Speaker 2: which is saving rappays two or three percent on their

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Speaker 2: on their own rates. Auckland Council could do the same.

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Speaker 2: Wayne Brown could do the same. You could remove the

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Speaker 2: requirement for that green bin and save Auckland as two

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Speaker 2: percent on their rates. Those are the types of things

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Speaker 2: council New Zealanders are looking for is how can we

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Speaker 2: reduce costs, how can we find efficiencies, how can we

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Speaker 2: focus on the basics. That's what councils up and down

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Speaker 2: the country should we focused on the.

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Speaker 1: Appreciate your time so I mean Brown, who was the

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Speaker 1: Minister for Auckland, among another number of other portfolios.

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

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