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Speaker 1: Commuter chaos. It's one of the prices we must pay

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Speaker 1: for living in a democracy. I know this won't be

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Speaker 1: popular with Aucklanders this morning, or others around the country

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Speaker 1: where this hikoy is heading, but it's a cost we

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Speaker 1: must bear. They're closing two lanes of the Harbor Bridge

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Speaker 1: this morning, and if you've got kids getting to an

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Speaker 1: NCAA exam, then you will be fuming about this. But

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Speaker 1: let's remember this is a one off protest. It's not

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Speaker 1: like those dickheads from the Public Rail or whatever they

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Speaker 1: were in Wellington, remember them. They repeatedly shut down the motorways.

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Speaker 1: They did it time and time again. They repeatedly stopped

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Speaker 1: the ambulances from getting to call outs, the kidney patients

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Speaker 1: from getting to dialysis. They deserved to be swept to

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Speaker 1: the curb, and it seems like for the most part

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Speaker 1: they have been, which is a good thing. This is

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Speaker 1: a one off from a group of people who feel,

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Speaker 1: rightly or wrongly, that they're getting a hard time from

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Speaker 1: this government. They feel they're not being heard in our democracy,

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Speaker 1: and whether you agree with that or not is besides

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Speaker 1: the point. The point is we live in a democracy

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Speaker 1: and the right to protest is well aright. It can

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Speaker 1: be an annoying one, but the minute you say you

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Speaker 1: can't do it, we all lose. If we learn anything

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Speaker 1: through COVID, it's that this whole system is rather fragile.

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Speaker 1: When people feel ostracized or maligned, we do better to

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Speaker 1: listen rather than suppress and silence, debate and dissent. For

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Speaker 1: more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to

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Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from five am weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio