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Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk z'b follow

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Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: We are talking about the repeal of Good Friday and

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Speaker 2: Easter Sunday as restricted training Day's bill. Now we heard

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Speaker 2: from our political edits Jason Wolf who's been in Parliament

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Speaker 2: and the bill was voted down. The bill sponsor was

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Speaker 2: Act Party MP Cameron Luxton, and he joins us, Now,

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Speaker 2: Hi are.

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Speaker 1: You, Cameron Coyle?

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Speaker 3: How are you very good?

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Speaker 2: I've got Matt Heath here as well, so I'm going

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Speaker 2: to just say this Cameron, to me, it's a bit

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Speaker 2: of a surprise that was voted down. I take it

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Speaker 2: you were surprised as well well.

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Speaker 3: I mean it was drawn nine months ago and I've

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Speaker 3: been lobbying extremely hard and talking to every MP I could,

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Speaker 3: because I think it's a complicated ish bill for people

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Speaker 3: to get in their head around sometimes. And also you

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Speaker 3: know there's a lot of different things being touched, so

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Speaker 3: everyone's got their own special interest, so it's kind of

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Speaker 3: hard to get the gauge of where people are at.

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Speaker 3: Last time this bill came up got thirty seven votes

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Speaker 3: in favor. This time it's got forty nine, which means

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Speaker 3: you know, there was some work done in lobbying, and

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Speaker 3: I think proud of what I did, trying to represent

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Speaker 3: New Zealanders who want to have a bit of choice

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Speaker 3: and freedom on how they spend their Easter with their

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Speaker 3: friends and family. And you know it's done. Its damsh

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Speaker 3: It's a bit of a shame that other parties didn't

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Speaker 3: see the value of that, but we've done what we could.

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Speaker 4: Probably, speaking who voted against.

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Speaker 3: It, well, it's sort of hard to say just yet

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Speaker 3: until the House's officials do the proper tality, but I

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Speaker 3: mean I will say on the side voting, yes, I

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Speaker 3: didn't see members from parties other than ACT and National

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Speaker 3: out there, so we'll remain to be seen who voted against.

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Speaker 3: But I think the fact that you know, there's been

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Speaker 3: polling done that shows a majority of New Zealanders, so

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Speaker 3: from every who support every party across the House, actually

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Speaker 3: wanted to see this change. And so the fact that

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Speaker 3: party leaders were whether officially or unofficially, whipping their members

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Speaker 3: to vote against it, it just sort of shows I

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Speaker 3: wish people had taken it more seriously and actually represented

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Speaker 3: the communities which they represent, which is a majority wanting

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Speaker 3: to see a change.

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Speaker 2: You've been doing the hard week behind the scenes, Cameron,

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Speaker 2: to try and drum up the votes. When you got

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Speaker 2: pushback from members, why what was the big reason for

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Speaker 2: their pushback.

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Speaker 3: There was a lot of concern about workers' rights and

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Speaker 3: people spending time with their families. So I think it

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Speaker 3: is absolutely a fair concern, a fair worry, and it

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Speaker 3: was something I bill mitigated because currently, if you want,

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Speaker 3: if your employee would like their employee to work on

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Speaker 3: Good on Easter Sunday, they must give that employee four

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Speaker 3: months notice and a four weeks notice. Sorry, I a

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Speaker 3: very big day going through this four weeks notice before

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Speaker 3: the date to get that. Employees are not objection to

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Speaker 3: vote to working, so saying if I don't want to work,

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Speaker 3: I don't have to and there's no repercussions. My bill

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Speaker 3: is extending that to include Good Friday. So it's actually

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Speaker 3: increasing worker protection and workers' rights and increasing choice for

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Speaker 3: all New Zealanders. So trying to make that point clear

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Speaker 3: to people as I'm struggling to do it to you

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Speaker 3: right now that after talking about it all afternoon, you

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Speaker 3: get a bit tongue tied. But look, I think trying

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Speaker 3: to get that across That is actually increasing choice for

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Speaker 3: all New Zealanders, and our enjoyment of the Easter weekend

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Speaker 3: was the key part. There was other issues when people

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Speaker 3: talk about the religious aspect and how important the Christian

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Speaker 3: faith is in New Zealand, and I agree entirely. This

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Speaker 3: builds nothing did nothing to impinge upon that. If people

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Speaker 3: wanted to take the day off and spend it in

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Speaker 3: religious observance, they could So they wanted to go and

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Speaker 3: play a round a mini part or go to the

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Speaker 3: go karts, they could do that too. So it was

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Speaker 3: basically increasing choice for all New Zealanders without taking rights

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Speaker 3: away from anybody. It feels like something that should have

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Speaker 3: been supported across the House, but as the cards fell,

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Speaker 3: perhaps not.

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Speaker 4: We're talking about Cameron Luxton, the sponsor of the repeal

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Speaker 4: of Good Friday and Easter Sundays, Restricted Trading Days, shopping trading,

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Speaker 4: Sale of Alcohol Amendment bill. Will you be continuing the fight, Cameron?

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Speaker 3: Will you?

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Speaker 4: Will you be attempting to bring this bill back? This

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Speaker 4: git pulled out of the hat, this bill.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. So as a private members bill, it's

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Speaker 3: a bill which I brought to the House and like

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Speaker 3: I said, actually it's been done before. Chris Bailey, another ACTMP,

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Speaker 3: tried it in the last something's very similar in the

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Speaker 3: last parliament and that was the one that was voted

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Speaker 3: was only thirty seven in favor, not a majority, this

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Speaker 3: one forty nine. Like I say, it's good to see

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Speaker 3: an improvement, and that me personally. I've got another Member's

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Speaker 3: bill in the tin which I'm quite passionate about, and

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Speaker 3: I think considering the the arguments which I've just heard

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Speaker 3: in the House opposed to it, I don't think that

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Speaker 3: there was an engagement with the ideas, perhaps putting that

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Speaker 3: nicely from the other parties. So I think maybe, you know,

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Speaker 3: my new my next members bill, if I'm so lucky

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Speaker 3: to have that drawn, might have a better chance in

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Speaker 3: this Parliament. But I'm sure someone's going to pick it

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Speaker 3: up again in the future because it's a perennial issue

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Speaker 3: that annoys New Zealanders every year. We hear about it

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Speaker 3: every year. I mean the Warbirds over Wanaka fiasco and

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Speaker 3: Wanaka last year was a prime example where you know,

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Speaker 3: the the two supermarkets just opened despite it being illegal

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Speaker 3: to actually serve the huge amount of tourists that had

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Speaker 3: come to the area. So it's not working for New Zealanders,

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Speaker 3: which means one day it will be fixed, but it

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Speaker 3: isn't today.

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Speaker 4: Well, Cameron Onman, I've got mixed views on this. Would

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Speaker 4: any part of you found a little bit bad if

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Speaker 4: we've gone through I mean just a little part, because

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Speaker 4: I mean when we when we cancel these traditions, you're

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Speaker 4: not canceling it, but when we diminish them, they never

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Speaker 4: come back. So that's that's a whole lot of time

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Speaker 4: and history and ways people have celebrated things that then

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Speaker 4: change forever. So would there been a little bit of

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Speaker 4: you that will that has nostalgia for those quieter times, Well.

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Speaker 3: It depends how you mean quiet times. I mean my

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Speaker 3: worry is that our country and I said it in

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Speaker 3: my speech in the House, which I worry that people

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Speaker 3: who have got a sort of a warm view of

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Speaker 3: the history of New Zealand and that we spend our

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Speaker 3: time if we're not doing something horrible and commercial, like

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Speaker 3: going doing something wholesome, maybe going to the garden or

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Speaker 3: go to the beach, maybe a lake shore somewhere. But

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Speaker 3: in reality, you know, things have changed. New Zealanders live

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Speaker 3: in subdivided properties, They live in townhouses without gardens perhaps,

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Speaker 3: and we've got screens basically everywhere, so I'm worried that.

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Speaker 3: You know, people do actually choose to go and enjoy

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Speaker 3: themselves in other ways, and if they're not given those options,

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Speaker 3: you know, a lot of people will probably see their

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Speaker 3: kids on screens more often, or even the adults, which

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Speaker 3: isn't actually a good outcome. So I do agree it's

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Speaker 3: an Eastern is an important tradition. Well, bill wouldn't have

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Speaker 3: changed a single public holiday, including the two Easter public holidays,

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Speaker 3: but they would have maintained their special circumstance. Even it

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Speaker 3: would have increased it because it would be the only

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Speaker 3: two days of the year where someone could refuse to

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Speaker 3: work without consequence. Yeah, so I think you can say,

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Speaker 3: you know, traditions are important. Also, New Zealand is changing.

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Speaker 3: It's changed rapidly over the last few decades. We need

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Speaker 3: to actually adapt to that and that's what my bill

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Speaker 3: was trying to do.

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Speaker 2: Well, Cameron, thank you very much for stepping out of

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Speaker 2: the house to have a chat with us, and hope

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Speaker 2: you have a merry Christmas.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, merry Christmas to you gentlemen.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much. That is Cameron Luxton at party

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Speaker 2: MP who was a sponsor of this particular bill that

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Speaker 2: has been voted down. That is something that pops up

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Speaker 2: time in Tom again. He said the votes were getting nearer,

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Speaker 2: it's closer to passing.

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Speaker 4: It will definitely happen. And I totally see his point

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Speaker 4: of view, and I totally see your point of view,

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Speaker 4: and I totally see the majority of the texts coming

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Speaker 4: through a point of view. But just part of me

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Speaker 4: thinks that having a couple of days, a few days

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Speaker 4: a year when most things are and we know that

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Speaker 4: most members of a family are going to be available

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Speaker 4: to get together and things may be just a little

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Speaker 4: bit quieter for a day, And he said, you know,

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Speaker 4: people will probably just be on the screen. So maybe

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Speaker 4: they will, but maybe they won't.

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Speaker 1: Who knows.

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Speaker 2: It's a fair argument for more.

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Speaker 1: From News Talks B Listen live on air or online

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