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Speaker 1: Ever do for thee Ellens.

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Speaker 2: Wellington Council Boss Barbara mcro has come under fire for

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Speaker 2: threatening to withhold information from elected counselors. Now after media

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Speaker 2: coverage she withdrew the threat quite rightly. Simeon Brown is

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Speaker 2: the Local Government Minister.

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Speaker 1: Hi, Simeon, good evening.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this is in the territory now where you

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Speaker 2: could really call in the commissioners or a Crown monitor,

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Speaker 2: couldn't you.

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Speaker 1: Well, we've made our views very clear that they need

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Speaker 1: to look at their policy. They've said they will. We're

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Speaker 1: keeping a very close eye on this issue and my

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Speaker 1: expectation is that councilors in Wellington have provided the information

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Speaker 1: they need going into making a decision on the LTP.

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Speaker 2: I read in one of the local papers today that

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Speaker 2: if Wellington It's been said that if Wellington City Council

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Speaker 2: cannot pass its long term plan then ministers will consider intervention.

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Speaker 1: Will you Well, that is obviously a significant issue if

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Speaker 1: they can't pass their long term plan. But the point

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Speaker 1: that I've been making in terms of this issue is

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Speaker 1: that the CEO of the council needs to realize that

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Speaker 1: she is not all elected and that the councilors and

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Speaker 1: the mayor is and that she needs to make sure

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Speaker 1: they have all of the information needed so that they

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Speaker 1: can make the decision they need to make on their

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Speaker 1: long term plan. That is of critical importance to democracy

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Speaker 1: in New Zealand and CEOs of councils should not be

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Speaker 1: acting in this way.

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Speaker 2: Do you believe that this is a widespread problem wider

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Speaker 2: than just Wellington? Where have we had these unelected officials

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Speaker 2: who think they're the real boss.

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Speaker 1: I am concerned about this issue in terms of some

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Speaker 1: of the issues I've seen raised by some councilors across

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Speaker 1: the country in terms of where there's been lack of

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Speaker 1: information provided or in some cases decisions made to prevent

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Speaker 1: members councilors from actually voting on particular issues because they

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Speaker 1: management may forward the view that they've got a predetermined view.

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Speaker 1: I think this is an issue that needs a wider

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Speaker 1: look at, and I've asked officials to do that because

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Speaker 1: my view is very clear. Elected members are elected by

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Speaker 1: the public to make decisions and the council staff are not.

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Speaker 1: They are public servants. They are there to serve the

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Speaker 1: elected members and am sure they have the information needed

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Speaker 1: to make decisions.

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Speaker 2: Listen to me and just back to Wellington. Okay, I

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Speaker 2: can understand why you might not want to get yourself

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Speaker 2: involved in something like this, because you're just going to

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Speaker 2: get yourself self involved in trouble if you call intervention in.

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Speaker 2: But do you not need to think about Wellington because

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Speaker 2: it is it is I mean as being run into

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Speaker 2: the ground by these people.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think about Wellington from a lot. I spend

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Speaker 1: a lot of my time in.

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Speaker 2: So what's it going to take to call in some

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Speaker 2: outside help because these people are not up to it.

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Speaker 1: Well, look, I guess the point i'd make is we're

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Speaker 1: keeping a very close eye on this issue. In terms

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Speaker 1: of this, I have written to the council and there

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Speaker 1: was welling into the council in the past in terms

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Speaker 1: of the issue around there what infrastructure, so there has

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Speaker 1: been I have used those powers in the past. I

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Speaker 1: would just make the point though, there's a process that

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Speaker 1: is underway in terms of the long term plan, and

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Speaker 1: in terms of that process, the councilors are elected, the

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Speaker 1: mayor is elected to make decisions and they need to

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Speaker 1: go through that process. And in the meantime, the council

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Speaker 1: staff need to ensure that the councilors have all of

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Speaker 1: the information that you need to have to make those decisions.

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Speaker 1: They are elected to make those decisions. They have the

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Speaker 1: democratic right to make those decisions. And the mayor, the

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Speaker 1: council chief executive needs to realize she is not elected.

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Speaker 2: Yeah too, right now, listen, quick word is your energy

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Speaker 2: hat on on the power outage in Northland? How can

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Speaker 2: we have one transmission tower falling over and then it

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Speaker 2: cuts power to the whole region.

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Speaker 1: Oh look, it's It's obviously incredibly concerning for Northland. I've

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Speaker 1: been in touch with Transparer on a couple of occasions.

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Speaker 1: This afternoon. There's going to be a full investigation as

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Speaker 1: to what happened here. The priority at the moment is

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Speaker 1: restoring the power to Northland. There is another transmission line

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Speaker 1: going up obviously won't be able to carry enough load

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Speaker 1: for Northland. So tonight there will be about two thirds

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Speaker 1: of power restored and they are working to have power

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Speaker 1: stewed at the earliest fully by tomorrow night.

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Speaker 2: Sime, and thank you so much, really appreciate time as always,

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Speaker 2: simme and Brown local government minister, also the Energy Minister.

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Speaker 2: What did I tell you not going to call an intervention.

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Speaker 1: In for more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

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