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Speaker 1: Tomas Coglan from the here and welcome back to work, mister.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, someone's told you this is my first day back.

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Speaker 1: Well the same same as me, really, So here we go.

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Speaker 1: And look, you wanted a nice quiet start to the year.

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Speaker 1: And what does Christopher Laxon do. It goes demotes the

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Speaker 1: person who in the weekend was saying, this is no

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Speaker 1: way I'm going to be demoted the next thing, you know,

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Speaker 1: oh Shane, You're gone.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, exactly that Shane Ritty. It appears here was

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Speaker 2: one of the last people to be told about his

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Speaker 2: own demotion, which which obviously can't be can't be very nice.

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Speaker 2: It was speculated about very heavily at the end of

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Speaker 2: last year. And it does appear that Christopher Luxon had

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Speaker 2: sort of sounded out some allies over the over the

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Speaker 2: Sun and Breakfast to whether that was a good idea

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Speaker 2: to demote him, and uh and and and those las

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Speaker 2: seemed to have come back and said it was so.

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Speaker 2: So yes, Shane Ritty has Son has said a rather

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Speaker 2: a rather unhappy and and and I'm kind to the

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Speaker 2: new year being developed from their health portfolio.

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Speaker 1: You're paid to watch these animals prow around in their cage,

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Speaker 1: and so I asked you, are you surprised by the timing?

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Speaker 1: Did it make sense? And is it the right thing

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Speaker 1: for Christopher Lections as leader of the National Party to

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Speaker 1: be doing it this moment at this time and we're

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Speaker 1: all in holiday mode and just still chill down.

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Speaker 2: I'm not surprised for the time by the timing, and

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Speaker 2: I think it does actually make sense. We're still two

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Speaker 2: years out from an election, so there is time to

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Speaker 2: reset the story on health. I think if you were to,

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Speaker 2: if you were to ask New Zealanders, and exactly the

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Speaker 2: pulses have asked New Zealanders how they feel about the

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Speaker 2: health system. Health seems to be rating pretty highly in

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Speaker 2: most poles. Is an issue voters care about and that

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Speaker 2: they care about it because the health system is clearly

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Speaker 2: in a bit of dire straight at the moment. So

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Speaker 2: bringing in someone new to fix that is probably a

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Speaker 2: good idea, and it's a good idea to do it

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Speaker 2: sooner other than later. It's a good way to begin

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Speaker 2: the new year. Like New Zealanders tend to tune out

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Speaker 2: of politics over the summer and don't really care about

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Speaker 2: politics over summer, Wellington Anniversary weekend tends to be the

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Speaker 2: period where I am not that the rest of the

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Speaker 2: country here is about when it's anniversary weekend, but this

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Speaker 2: weekend tends to be the weekend where people start to

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Speaker 2: sort of tune in the game. So I think it's

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Speaker 2: a good it's a good a good time for the

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Speaker 2: Prime Minister to just put the research to hit the

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Speaker 2: reset button. But whether or not you know things can

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Speaker 2: actually change in health that is probably a bigger question

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Speaker 2: and one that will be pretty hard to answer.

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Speaker 1: I ask you, have you ever seen a health system

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Speaker 1: that's not in dire straits in New Zealand? And I

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Speaker 1: also ask you have you ever seen anyone appointed to

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Speaker 1: be health minister who finished in the job with a

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Speaker 1: better reputation than when they started.

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Speaker 2: That is a very good questions.

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Speaker 1: The answer is no, Yes, it probably is.

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Speaker 2: No. I'm I mean and it can seem to do.

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Speaker 2: I mean health a health as a portfolio were use

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Speaker 2: where you survive. You know, survival is you don't necessarily win.

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Speaker 2: Winning is survival. And the ones the ones who tend

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Speaker 2: to get out okay, seem to be the ones who

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Speaker 2: who aren't in there for very long. So Andrew Little, actually,

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Speaker 2: I think they seemed to you know get he wasn't

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Speaker 2: in there for a very long time as well.

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Speaker 1: As Ryan Bridge pointed out this morning, the health job

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Speaker 1: is the biggest and worst job in New Zealand. Eighty

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Speaker 1: thousand employees under the health department. I mean that dwarfs

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Speaker 1: in New Zealand, Fonterra Fisher and Pikel Fletchers. Every eighty

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Speaker 1: thousand people know it, all health professionals, smart and all unionized.

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Speaker 2: Good luck, it's about I actually did those numbers a

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Speaker 2: little while ago. I think on one point seven percent

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Speaker 2: of New Zealanders, including infants and retirees, so all of

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Speaker 2: New one point seven percent of us work for the

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Speaker 2: health system. It's a huge well, it's a losing job.

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Speaker 2: It's very hard to do properly. So so yes, I think.

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Speaker 2: I think Simeon Brown has been handed the most difficult

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Speaker 2: job of his career.

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Speaker 1: But he's an ambitious man and he's keen in his confidence.

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Speaker 1: And there we go. And would you just final question,

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Speaker 1: do you did this have anything to do with the

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Speaker 1: fact with the Courier Taxpayers Union poll you know, which

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Speaker 1: showed that National had slip below thirty and they've been

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Speaker 1: overtaken by a stagnant labor did that far on, you

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Speaker 1: have some changes, We've got to look better.

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Speaker 2: That's a good question too. I actually think that the

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Speaker 2: Courier poll it's unfortunate for Christopher Laxon because he's quite

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Speaker 2: a deliberative guy, and I think he will have been

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Speaker 2: thinking about this over summer, thinking about it very deeply

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Speaker 2: and really questioning himself over summer about it. And I

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Speaker 2: heard that, but I think it looks like it looks

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Speaker 2: like it was reactive. I don't think it was very good.

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Speaker 1: Got to go, and I thank you for your time.

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Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks it'd be from four pm, or follow the

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Speaker 2: podcast on iHeartRadio.