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Speaker 1: Bryan Bridge.

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Speaker 2: Another council is pulled out of Local Government New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: Western Bay of Western Bay of Plenty District Council is

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Speaker 2: the latest. They've narrowly voted to leave the organization. Quite

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Speaker 2: a few others have done this already. Auckland has done it.

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Speaker 2: Christ which have done it. They've given a big no

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Speaker 2: to l G and Z. Margaret Murray bene is the

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Speaker 2: Western Bay of Plenty District Council Council issues with me now, Margaret,

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Speaker 2: Good evening.

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Speaker 1: Hi, Ryan. I don't know what it's doing at your place,

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Speaker 1: but it's pouring down here into Ranga and it's most

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Speaker 1: welcome rain. Oh, most welcome.

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Speaker 2: Well it is. I'm in Auckland and I've just looked

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Speaker 2: out the window for the first time and it's it's

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Speaker 2: overcast but not raining here Margaret.

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Speaker 1: Oh, well, it's hosing out and it's really good news.

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Speaker 2: Good and you've been Yes, you've been giving a bit

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Speaker 2: of a hosing down to the Local Government New Zealand

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Speaker 2: in your meeting.

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Speaker 1: Yes, and rightly so. I think from my experience when

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Speaker 1: the Local Government Association supported the Three Waters Reform under

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Speaker 1: the previous government, they actually sold local government out because

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Speaker 1: they weren't interested in listening to what we said. They

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Speaker 1: were just going ahead with what the government wanted, and

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Speaker 1: so that's when I really lost faith in them. And

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Speaker 1: I've had a lot of experience in local government down

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Speaker 1: on Grastchurch, so for me it was something that I

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Speaker 1: really it's not what local government New Zealand supposed to be.

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Speaker 1: It's supposed to be a coordination of all councils and

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Speaker 1: they're supposed to reflect the needs of the councils. But

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Speaker 1: this one is not doing its job, and so I

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Speaker 1: fully supported a move to withdraw that.

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Speaker 2: Margaret, what about the fact that other councils disagree with you?

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Speaker 2: And you know it's a member organization, so it has

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Speaker 2: to represent all of you, correct, So it can't just

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Speaker 2: represent your views, Margaret, No, it.

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Speaker 1: Doesn't represent my views, but it does represent all views.

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Speaker 1: And so, for example, with the co they weren't interested

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Speaker 1: in how it affected the rate payers when they introduced

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Speaker 1: the three Waters with co governance, the people who were

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Speaker 1: paying were our rate payers, and yet their rights were

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Speaker 1: being taken away by the previous government by having a

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Speaker 1: co governance unelected people or unaccountable people being appointed. So

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Speaker 1: it was just not the right thing to do. That's

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Speaker 1: not what local government should be about. So anyhow, not

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Speaker 1: only us, but Auckland, Greymouth, Kuiper, as you said, West

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Speaker 1: Coast Regional Council, Westland and christ Church and so there

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Speaker 1: is a growing move that that's not reflecting how council

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Speaker 1: should operate.

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Speaker 2: And what are you saving, Margaret? What were your subs.

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Speaker 1: Save? About one hundred and eighty something thousand, and then

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Speaker 1: there's about sixteen thousand from our community boards and there

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Speaker 1: are other costs that come with it. We're not a

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Speaker 1: large council. Our population is just over fifty thousand, and

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Speaker 1: so it's anything you can do to save money reflects

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Speaker 1: back into the rate demand. But the interesting thing, Ryan

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Speaker 1: is we've got these wonderful members of parliament now under

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Speaker 1: Karen McNulty, the previous Minister of Local Government under the

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Speaker 1: last government. Give him his credit. He came and visited

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Speaker 1: every council in the country and I admired him for that.

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Speaker 1: And when he met with us, he didn't meet with

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Speaker 1: the mayor, he met with the councilors and I thought

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Speaker 1: that was a great step for all.

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Speaker 2: That's lovely. Margaret's still reigning outside.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it definitely is brilliant.

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Speaker 2: Most welcome. Thank you very much for being with me.

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Speaker 2: I appreciate your time. That's my Margaret Murray Bench. She's

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Speaker 2: Western boy Plenty District councilor For more from Hither Duplessy

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