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Speaker 1: Together.

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Speaker 2: Dupless nine two ninety two is the text number. Standard

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Speaker 2: text fees apply. It's final. Unfortunately, the christ Church Cathedral

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Speaker 2: is going to be mothballed until they get more money.

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Speaker 2: The board responsible for the bill called a meeting today

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Speaker 2: to decide what to do after the government said no

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Speaker 2: to putting any more money into the rebuild. Mark Stewart

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Speaker 2: is the chair of the board.

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Speaker 1: High Mark, Hi, Heather, how I'm well?

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Speaker 2: Thank you? Is no one for Peter to stump up

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Speaker 2: any more cash?

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Speaker 1: No at this Well, it's a big funding challenge. Has

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Speaker 1: always been a funding challenge right from the day that

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Speaker 1: it was considered to be reinstated. But it got a

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Speaker 1: whole lot harder once we got on and inside the

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Speaker 1: cathedral and figured out how much it was going to

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Speaker 1: cost affix it.

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Speaker 2: Did you ask anyone for more cash apart from obviously

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Speaker 2: the government.

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Speaker 1: Well, yes, we've been working heavily with the church in

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Speaker 1: terms of their further contributions to it and managed to

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Speaker 1: get some success with that through the General Senator. While

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Speaker 1: back we continue to talk to all of the major

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Speaker 1: funders and funders of potential donors to this particular site.

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Speaker 1: We've also obviously spoken to the government and had extensive

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Speaker 1: conversations with the Chross City Council.

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Speaker 2: What I was meaning, Mark was was since the government

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Speaker 2: said no, they're not going to assist, have you asked

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Speaker 2: anybody since then?

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Speaker 1: Well, no, no, we haven't. We have to announce today

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Speaker 1: actually that we're suspending construction on the site. Heather. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's just there's no pathway to completion without the government

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Speaker 1: being a part of this. They were, I mean, why not.

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Speaker 2: The Anglicans have got heaps of cash, There are heaps

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Speaker 2: of philanthropists out there. Why wouldn't they come to the party.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think, well, let's go in order. I mean

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Speaker 1: the church itself, who you say, they've got lots of cash,

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Speaker 1: they have lots of access. They say, which are other

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Speaker 1: churches which are being used as churches? So you know,

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Speaker 1: it's like cutting off your arms to say your league

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Speaker 1: and to speak.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I think it's also a bit disingenuous about the way

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Speaker 1: in which this to the church has been sort of

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Speaker 1: got into the railroaded into it. Ultimately, they wanted to

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Speaker 1: do their own thing with their own private asset, and

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Speaker 1: they were thwarted from doing that, and ultimately that led

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Speaker 1: to the reinstatement promoted by the government and by the

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Speaker 1: Christiat City Council, and so ultimately when the going get staff,

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Speaker 1: one of the parties has decided to walk away from

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Speaker 1: that and left the church and private asset again. So

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Speaker 1: there's a bit that's ingenuous to say that I think

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Speaker 1: not fair enough.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's a fair argument nout. But

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Speaker 2: basically what I'm hearing is that you guys are going

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Speaker 2: to mothball it until the government stumps up the cash.

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Speaker 1: No I do I think that's the case. We have

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Speaker 1: to all work in tandem to try to get the

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Speaker 1: ren standard of this cathedral. There are a few parties

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Speaker 1: to it. There's the government obviously, there's the Christian City Council,

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Speaker 1: there's the church, and there's also the philanthropic market around that.

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Speaker 1: You think about a philanthropist here, somebody that's going to

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Speaker 1: donate a significant amount of money that's going to change

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Speaker 1: the dialogheus if you like, they just and simply say

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Speaker 1: if we don't have a pathway to completion, why would

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Speaker 1: we give you the money. Now, We'll just give you

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Speaker 1: a pledge to day and it will activate when you

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Speaker 1: have a pathway to completion. Because They're not going to

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Speaker 1: exchange their checkbook for a pile of rocks and moved.

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Speaker 2: No fair enough, So let's be realistic about it. Who

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Speaker 2: is going to provide the money to finish this.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think it's really a joint holding a hands

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Speaker 1: to make it happen together. The government has to play

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Speaker 1: a part. We have to explain it better, you know. Look,

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Speaker 1: I think we acknowledge that the timing couldn't be worse

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Speaker 1: for a request like this. People are suffering out there.

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Speaker 1: It is the cost of living crisis. You know, there

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Speaker 1: is fiscal restraint and we have to be cognizant of

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Speaker 1: that and understand that timing too. We don't get to

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Speaker 1: dictate the timing, you know, it is what it is.

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Speaker 1: And so the timing that we can dictate is the

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Speaker 1: construction of the project, which is now basically on hold

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Speaker 1: until we can gather some support again to the cathedral, okay,

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Speaker 1: just because people don't want to fund it. It is

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Speaker 1: sitting in the middle of Cathedral square. It is you know,

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Speaker 1: the square itself was a regeneration project for christ Church,

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Speaker 1: was an encod project, but the cathedral itself was not.

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Speaker 1: And so suddenly it's left in the church's hands to

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Speaker 1: sort of fix this problem when it's actually a city

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Speaker 1: wide and a national problem.

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Speaker 2: What is the minimum that the government would have to

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Speaker 2: put in well for.

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Speaker 1: Us to keep going, we need thirty million to strengthen

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Speaker 1: the walls, I think last time I said, is.

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Speaker 2: That what you're saying to me?

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Speaker 1: Though?

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Speaker 2: But what the minimum the government would have to put

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Speaker 2: in a thirty mili.

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Speaker 1: Well, we need thirty million. I don't care where it

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Speaker 1: comes from. I'm the reinstatement chair, so I just need money.

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Speaker 1: At the end of the day, we need thirty million

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Speaker 1: dollars right now in order to strengthen those walls.

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Speaker 2: Worst case scenario, though, Mark, isn't it that you stop

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Speaker 2: all of the work, lose the team, and then one

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Speaker 2: day in the future get the money and have to

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Speaker 2: find all these people all over again.

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Speaker 1: That's the course we're on right today either. That's what

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Speaker 1: we've announced today. We are temporarily, well not temporarily, we

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Speaker 1: are suspending the construction on this site. That is the

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Speaker 1: decision of our board yesterday. We don't have the money,

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Speaker 1: there's no site to it, there's no path for completion

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Speaker 1: on this basis, and therefore add others to demobilize the

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Speaker 1: site and make it as tidy as possible.

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Speaker 2: Mark beast of luck with it. I can see this

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Speaker 2: is going to be a complicated the thing and thanks

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Speaker 2: for having a chat to us. It's Mark Stewart, christ

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Speaker 2: Church Castle Cathedral Reinstatement Limited Project Chair. For more from

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Speaker 2: Heather Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to news talks it'd

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Speaker 2: be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.