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Speaker 1: How we have. I'm wrong, but it seems to me

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Speaker 1: that every single year that the Anglican Church in this

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Speaker 1: country allows to pass without getting on and repairing the

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Speaker 1: christ Church Cathedral is a year that the public care

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Speaker 1: less about repairing it than they did before. Yet again

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Speaker 1: the Anglicans are asking for money to fix the thing.

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Speaker 1: They asked the government you might recall for sixty million

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Speaker 1: dollars eighteen months ago. They got to know, so this

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Speaker 1: time they're now targeting the christ Church rate payers. They

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Speaker 1: say they've stopped any meaningful fundraising and they're asking rate

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Speaker 1: payers to plug the gap. The funding gap is about

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Speaker 1: forty five million dollars. Potentially, this is going to go

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Speaker 1: out to consultation with rate payers. If rate payers say yes,

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Speaker 1: it will be an added cost to the rates. So

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Speaker 1: whatever the rates are right now, you can add that

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Speaker 1: cost on top. I don't rate the Anglicans' chances here

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Speaker 1: because rates in christ Church, like everywhere around the country,

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Speaker 1: are at record highs, and in christ Church they're proposed

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Speaker 1: to go up another eight percent this year. And that's

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Speaker 1: on top of the fact that the Cranterburry Museum has

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Speaker 1: also just asked for another two hundred and sixty million

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Speaker 1: dollars to pay for it's rebuilt. So it's a shortage

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Speaker 1: of money. I have to say. I still find it,

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Speaker 1: like I did it ten months ago, slightly cheeky from

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Speaker 1: the Anglicans to be doing this, because they own three

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Speaker 1: billion dollars worth of assets in this country alone, and

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Speaker 1: that last count that was done on their assets was

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Speaker 1: six years ago, so I would say, given inflation, they

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Speaker 1: probably own more. There is enough there to pay for

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Speaker 1: the entire reconstruction of the cathedral, not just the first

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Speaker 1: stage they're talking about at the moment. Every year I

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Speaker 1: reckon that the Anglicans spend trying to find someone else

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Speaker 1: to pay for the restoration of their church. I reckon

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Speaker 1: public appetite to restore it must surely diminish, because every

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Speaker 1: year that goes by, there are more new venues opening

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Speaker 1: up in christ Church, whether they're small like restaurants or

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Speaker 1: bars or a shop, or large like the convention center

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Speaker 1: or the new stadium. Christ Church is rebuilding. It's becoming

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Speaker 1: increasingly beautiful, it's becoming increasingly fun. And I know the

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Speaker 1: cathedral can't be replaced by a stadium or a convention

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Speaker 1: center or a shop. I realize it has a special

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Speaker 1: place for christ Church, but the Anglicans are at risk

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Speaker 1: of that being diluted every single time a new special

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Speaker 1: place opens up. For more from Heather Dupless and Drive,

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Speaker 1: listen live to News Talks it B from four pm weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.