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Speaker 1: There's got to Wellington Nick Leggett's Infrastructure New Zealand with

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Speaker 1: us tonight. Hey Nick, Hello, Ryan, good to have you

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Speaker 1: on and Nick Mill's host of Wellington Morning's Nick Welcome,

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Speaker 1: Thank you. Now there's Solicitor General. We've had her on

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Speaker 1: the show this evening and for those who aren't familiar

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Speaker 1: with the case, she put out guidelines a couple of

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Speaker 1: months ago. They mentioned in the fall ward. They mentioned

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Speaker 1: that you should think carefully police and other prosecutors before

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Speaker 1: prosecuting Mardy because they're disproportionately represented in the bad stats

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Speaker 1: and in the justice system. She's now reversed that and says, well,

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Speaker 1: it was misinterpreted. Nick, What do you make of that?

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Speaker 1: You're buying it?

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Speaker 2: I think that it was poorly written. I think that

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Speaker 2: she either didn't read it or her team didn't read

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Speaker 2: it correctly. But I think it's I don't think it

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Speaker 2: was open to misrepresentation. I think somebody wrote that and

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Speaker 2: it wasn't looked at properly and they've had to change

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Speaker 2: and I think it was appropriate that they changed it

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Speaker 2: in these circumstances.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, because Nick, I think it sort of seemed to

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Speaker 1: me like they actually did know what they were writing.

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Speaker 1: Someone knew what they were writing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, somebody knew what the writing.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, yeah, Nick, what do you reckon?

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Speaker 3: Oh? Nick? Sorry, there's too next.

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Speaker 1: There is too I didn't even know Nick number two.

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Speaker 3: Nick number one, please joking. I just can't believe the

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Speaker 3: Solicitor Genial Uma Jarkos has still got a job. Remember

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Speaker 3: what happened in the abuse of care when they did

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Speaker 3: the amazing apology and everyone turned their back. Remember she

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Speaker 3: was sort of looked at as not being as caring

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Speaker 3: and as nice a person as she should be. This

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Speaker 3: is almost like a second strike. I just don't know

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Speaker 3: what Judas Colin's thinking about. She needs to go. She's

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Speaker 3: not the right person in the job. And this is clearly.

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Speaker 3: I mean, everyone understood what she said when she wrote that,

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Speaker 3: and she's trying to backpedal and back pedal quietly. And

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Speaker 3: you know what, I understand why she doesn't do radio,

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Speaker 3: because she was damn terrible on your show.

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Speaker 2: Well. I think full credit to her, actually, though, Nick,

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Speaker 2: because she fronted up. And you know, the Solicitor General

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Speaker 2: isn't somebody you often hear from in the media, and

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Speaker 2: so I think she at least dined up and said Look,

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Speaker 2: it wasn't. It wasn't as I wanted it to be communicated.

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Speaker 2: I've changed it and I'm sorry, And I think we've

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Speaker 2: got to take her at her word on that because,

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Speaker 2: like most I suspect most people would think that that

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Speaker 2: was improperly worded and wouldn't agree with it.

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Speaker 3: All right, Why would she make a mistake like that?

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Speaker 3: I mean why would She's the top top solicitor general.

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Speaker 3: I mean, why would she make a mistake like that?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think that's the question, is that was

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Speaker 1: it actually a mistake or not? I mean, yes, it's

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Speaker 1: been corrected, but was it a mistake? Nick's Leggett and

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Speaker 1: Mills with us back in just a second News Talk said,

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Speaker 1: be a huddle tonight. Nick Legget Infrastructure, New Zealand. Nick Mills,

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Speaker 1: host of Wellington Mornings on news Talk, said, the legate

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Speaker 1: the fairies. It looks like there was a bit of

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Speaker 1: a battle between Battle Royale between Seymour and Winston over

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Speaker 1: this and Nicholas caught in the middle and Winston's come

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Speaker 1: out holding the ball. Is everybody on board? Do we

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Speaker 1: think he's going to get this thing done? Can you

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Speaker 1: do rail enabled and cheap?

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Speaker 2: I think that we've got to be well, we're all

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Speaker 2: going to be sitting there with beta breath, aren't we.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be very hard to deliver rail enabled

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Speaker 2: within a lesser funding envelope, if anybody can do it.

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Speaker 2: I suspect Winston, well, I mean the good thing is

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Speaker 2: he's keen on rail. He's very experienced. I would say, though,

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Speaker 2: this is sort of dangerous territory, not not for Winston

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Speaker 2: but for the government. If you look at what happened

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Speaker 2: in Tasmania recently, this a similar sort of blowout, a

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Speaker 2: similar issue you know, cost a mini senior minister their job.

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Speaker 2: We actually it's it's I bang on about this a lot. Ryan.

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Speaker 2: The thing is when we have too much politics in

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Speaker 2: vital infrastructure decisions, things take longer, Poor decisions are made

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Speaker 2: and they cost more, and then we go back to

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Speaker 2: the drawing board because we've wasted so much money on

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Speaker 2: a solution that doesn't actually happen. I think what we've

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Speaker 2: got to do now is step back and let the

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Speaker 2: new Minister of Rail work out the best option and

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Speaker 2: give some time to do that. I can tell you

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Speaker 2: when you know, when you politicize infrastructure and all the

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Speaker 2: pressure goes on to rush a decision, that's when you

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Speaker 2: get a stuff up. So we've all got to be

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Speaker 2: a bit more discipline.

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Speaker 1: I think there's almost one other person that they need

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Speaker 1: to bring into this conversation, so it's not just Winston

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Speaker 1: and Seymour and Willis. What about Hipkins Because let's face it,

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Speaker 1: when they get back in, the fairies may not be

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Speaker 1: ordered yet, and we want to make sure that we're

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Speaker 1: not ordering and canceling meals.

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Speaker 3: Yep, right, Look, Ryan, I worked this out. I did

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Speaker 3: an hour on on the show today and I worked

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Speaker 3: it out right. I looked at Nicola Willis's Nicola clach

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Speaker 3: Nicola Willis, what am I saying? Yeah, Nicola Willison's body

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Speaker 3: language yesterday and there was something up right. So this

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Speaker 3: is how I worked it out. After spending an hour

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Speaker 3: talking about it. This morning, she went to Cabinet. She

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Speaker 3: had been two new or secondhand ferries, smaller, non rail capable,

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Speaker 3: and wanted them to sign off the deal. Winston kicked

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Speaker 3: up part of the coalition. He kicked up and said, no,

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Speaker 3: it's got to be rail compatible. Give me the Minister

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Speaker 3: of Railways. I will make it happen and I will

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Speaker 3: sort it out. That's what I reckon happen, and I

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Speaker 3: reckon I'll be proven right at some stage.

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Speaker 1: Do you reckon he can sort it out?

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Speaker 3: Yes, I'm not sure. I mean I think he can

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Speaker 3: and I've got confidence in him. But the fact that

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Speaker 3: Nicholas said I delivered means that she thinks that she

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Speaker 3: got it done, you know what I mean. And that's

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Speaker 3: when she said, yeah, nothing's been done.

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Speaker 1: Nothing was done, but she had a proposal to get

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Speaker 1: stuff done. And I guess that's now become Plan B,

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Speaker 1: which is, you know, in three months, we'll see what happens. Hey,

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Speaker 1: the Wellington City Council at it again. So the forecast

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Speaker 1: rate ride a fifteen point nine percent next year, up

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Speaker 1: three percent from what they had promise. Basically they didn't

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Speaker 1: cut deep enough. Nick Legate, At what point do you

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Speaker 1: do we just stop believing actually anything they tell us

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Speaker 1: about any rate rises.

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Speaker 2: Well, the thing is here, if you want to have

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Speaker 2: a lesser rate rise, you've got to choose to do less.

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Speaker 2: And I think that's the challenge for Wellington City, it's

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Speaker 2: the challenge for many councils, is actually be brave and

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Speaker 2: not do something. But the second point is that there's

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Speaker 2: some protection in all this, and that is that they've

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Speaker 2: got to go out for consultation or is this actually yeah,

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Speaker 2: this is for next year, so they've got to go

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Speaker 2: out for consultation to their long term plan even though

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Speaker 2: they're doing sorry, their annual plan, So they're doing the

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Speaker 2: long term planner that will give residents some kind of input.

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Speaker 2: And of course it is election year next year, so

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Speaker 2: politicians tend to listen quite a lot during election years.

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Speaker 2: So I still think there's a chance that the community

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Speaker 2: can influence the decision if it's got a If the

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Speaker 2: decision is going to be going to consultation, I'm a

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Speaker 2: bit unsure. The reason I sound a bit confused is

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Speaker 2: because they've got to redo their ten year plan, if

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Speaker 2: you recall, because they didn't sell the airports shares, So

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Speaker 2: I'm not sure where that sits in terms of this.

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Speaker 2: But yeah, let's see what happens. Mels.

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Speaker 1: You're across this, you know this light the back of

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Speaker 1: your hand, and you've got your finger on the pole.

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Speaker 1: Are you believing this new promise that it'll be less

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Speaker 1: than the fifteen point nine or not?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely not, It'll be more than fifteen point nine. And

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Speaker 3: the first thing they've got to do is give up

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Speaker 3: on the Golden Mile cut back. They've got to stop

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Speaker 3: the spending on all this earthquake stuff that they keep

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Speaker 3: thinking every building's going to come down in a slight shape.

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Speaker 3: They've got to forget about that. We've been given four

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Speaker 3: more years by the government not to do anything. Pull

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Speaker 3: your heads in, stop doing the spending on things we

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Speaker 3: don't need to spend on right now, and get us

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Speaker 3: to the next election so we can make some changes.

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Speaker 3: But if you think you live in Wellington and you've

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Speaker 3: got a problem with rates, if you have, and they're ridiculous,

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Speaker 3: and if you've got a commercial building, it's ten times worse.

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Speaker 3: I mean, the same building in Auckland, the same building

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Speaker 3: in Wellington with the same value, you're paying almost double

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Speaker 3: the rates.

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Speaker 1: It's just not right, certainly not. Thanks so much for

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Speaker 1: your time, guys, great to have you on Nick Legget

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Speaker 1: Infrastructure New Zealand and Nick Mills, host of Wellington Mornings

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Speaker 1: on News Talk SEDB. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,

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Speaker 1: listen live to News Talk SEDB from four pm weekdays,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.