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Speaker 1: Tributes have continued to flow in following the passing of

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Speaker 1: Nicky Kay, the former Minister and All Consensual MP, died

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Speaker 1: over the weekend at just forty four years old after

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Speaker 1: a long battle with cancer. She's been remembered as an

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Speaker 1: advocate for the rainbow community and a well respected MP

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Speaker 1: across all of Parliament. Michael Barnett is the former chief

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Speaker 1: executive of the Auckland Business Chamber and is with me

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Speaker 1: this morning. Michael, good morning, Brian, good morning. It's great

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Speaker 1: to have you on the show. This is obviously some

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Speaker 1: very very sad news.

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Speaker 2: It is. It's such a shame that people like NICKI

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Speaker 2: need to go for us to remember the impact that

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Speaker 2: they made and the things that they did. But she's

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Speaker 2: certainly somebody that I worked with and somebody that I

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Speaker 2: remember and remember what she did.

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Speaker 1: What did you work with her on and what was

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Speaker 1: sort of some of the passions that came through when

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Speaker 1: you worked with her.

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Speaker 2: I think the use the word passion is a good one.

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Speaker 2: I mean she was passionate, she was a lesson and

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Speaker 2: of activity, she was an advocate. But for me, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's easy to talk fairness and equity in a community,

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Speaker 2: but it's harder to give the LGBTQ community a voice,

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Speaker 2: but she did that. It was easy for me to talk,

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Speaker 2: you know, the benefits of cruise ships coming to our city.

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Speaker 2: It was harder for somebody to talk about the damage

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Speaker 2: to the environment from new ways, So it was easy

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Speaker 2: for me to talk about congestion and congestion charging in Auckland.

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Speaker 2: It was harder to have a conversation about the benefits

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Speaker 2: of cycle waste, but she did. She was able to

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Speaker 2: give a voice to those who didn't have one, and

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Speaker 2: that was the Seme community in central Auckland. So those

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Speaker 2: are the things that I will remember her for.

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Speaker 1: She was a bit of a fish out of water

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Speaker 1: in that sense in the national caucus at the time,

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Speaker 1: and I guess part of the part of her appeal

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Speaker 1: to Auckland Central that she was able to take that seat.

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Speaker 2: If you have, you know, back into two thousand and

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Speaker 2: ate a labor stronghold for so many years, and she

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Speaker 2: took it, and she took it as a young liberal.

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Speaker 2: She took it as a fresh new face, passionate, tons

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Speaker 2: of energy, and she came in and she was quite

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Speaker 2: happy to have a different opinion around transport or around

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Speaker 2: where a port should be or as I said before,

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Speaker 2: the LGBTQ community, same sex marriage. You know, these these

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Speaker 2: were tough things that you needed to have a conversation about,

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Speaker 2: and she was happy to have that conversation.

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Speaker 1: Were you surprised at her passing. I mean I didn't.

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Speaker 1: I didn't realize personally how unwell she was.

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Speaker 2: I was aware, and I have to say I've done

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Speaker 2: a similar pathway, you know, with that cancer, and I

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Speaker 2: had throt cancer and you know, for so many years

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Speaker 2: it takes its toll, and you know, for those that

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Speaker 2: have been down there, you understand the pain and the

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Speaker 2: despair and the sense of futility. For her, it's been

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Speaker 2: something that she's carried for so many years bad She's

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Speaker 2: done it with huge amounts of support, huge amounts of hope,

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Speaker 2: and a huge amount of bled from herself. So I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, as she's someone as I say, it's a

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Speaker 2: shame when people like net to go that it takes

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Speaker 2: their parting for us to remember the goods she did.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. Michael, thank you very much for being with us

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Speaker 1: this morning. Really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Ryan.

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Speaker 1: It's Michael Barnett, Formative executive of the Auckland Business Chamber.

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