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Speaker 1: It's nineteen to six the Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's

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Speaker 1: International Realty find your what.

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Speaker 2: A the kind.

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Speaker 1: We're going to the huddle now? Who's on the huddle tonight?

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Speaker 1: But's Q and A host and news talks. They'd be

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Speaker 1: host Jack Tame and Auckland councilor Morris Williams and good

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Speaker 1: evening guys.

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Speaker 2: Did even did I?

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Speaker 1: Ryan?

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Speaker 2: Bit of a hard act to follow with Margaret?

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Speaker 1: I know, how do you beat Margaret? How do you

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Speaker 1: do that?

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Speaker 3: People are texting and we should all do the weather first.

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Speaker 1: So somebody said, Ryan raining on the Hibiscus coast, most

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Speaker 1: welcome anyway, Hey, what did you think about that? Morris?

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Speaker 1: About local government New Zealand. I mean there's this argument

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Speaker 1: that it's too lefty and political. Do you see that

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Speaker 1: in it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. The briefings and the notes that I read when

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Speaker 3: I first became a counselor, it was the biggest pack

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Speaker 3: of woke rubbish I've ever read. And when I saw

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Speaker 3: we were spending seven hundred thousand dollars of Auckham taxpayers

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Speaker 3: and ratepayers money on it, I thought, you only stay

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Speaker 3: a member of an organization that provides you value. It

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Speaker 3: was the biggest lot of crap I've ever read, So

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Speaker 3: I was delighted for the fact that organd council voted

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Speaker 3: to get out of it.

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Speaker 1: Jack, What is their purpose? I mean, yeah, what is

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Speaker 1: their purpose?

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Speaker 2: If not well, I mean I think, I mean to

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Speaker 2: give a collective voice to local governments around New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: And I mean it is you know, it's interesting, right

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Speaker 2: because I think whether it's you know, global geopolitics or

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Speaker 2: unions or anything in our kind of day to day

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Speaker 2: lives that if you're able to coalesce as a group,

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Speaker 2: often you have more kind of power and authority and negotiations.

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Speaker 2: And lots of local governments around the country have been

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Speaker 2: complaining over the last few years that systematically successive governments

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Speaker 2: have reduced the kind of local authority that these governments have.

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Speaker 2: They've systematically taken away some of their responsibilities. They have

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Speaker 2: very few measures for raising revenue that they are able

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Speaker 2: to you know, leaders, that they're able to pull them.

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Speaker 2: And I would have thought there's an argument that actually

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Speaker 2: having a kind of collective response with all the councils

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Speaker 2: around the country, or certainly as many as possible, would

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Speaker 2: give those local governments a stronger voice. Now for councils

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Speaker 2: like Auckland, it's perhaps a different equation, right, because Auckland's

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Speaker 2: so big that that council almost operates as an independent entity.

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Speaker 2: But you know, I would have thought if councils do

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Speaker 2: want to have more authority and they want more respect

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Speaker 2: from central government, there is an argument to be made

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Speaker 2: that actually having a collective voice put some of the

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Speaker 2: stronger position for negotiations.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, interesting, that's all very well.

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Speaker 3: If they are doing the things that Jack's talking about.

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Speaker 3: You know, look we're going to have a look at,

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Speaker 3: say infrastructure and what's a good set of policies about

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Speaker 3: purchasing long term and whether you bring private sector stuff

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Speaker 3: and that stuff. I'd be happy to be joined up

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Speaker 3: with every other council on But I promise you if

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Speaker 3: you read some of the woke rubbish they were pumping out,

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Speaker 3: it was, in fact, I think some of the Greens

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Speaker 3: would even find it hard to tolerate.

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Speaker 1: Why are we talking gender neutral bike lanes or something?

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Speaker 1: What's the it was so much all right, Marris Williamson.

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Speaker 3: Please don't get me started on that.

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Speaker 1: No, I'm certainly wont Marris Williamson and Jack tam on

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Speaker 1: the huddle when we come back. We're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about the billionaires and the stadium on the huddle tonight,

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Speaker 1: Marris Williamson and Jack Tames. So there's this bid by

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Speaker 1: former All Black Ally Williams, his billionaire wife and a

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Speaker 1: Mowbray and the US billionaire Bill Foley. They want to

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Speaker 1: build a new stadium on the site of Western Springs

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Speaker 1: because the racing's going to stop. I think it's this

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Speaker 1: weekend as the last one. This is there are three

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Speaker 1: options before the council to do something with this site,

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Speaker 1: and this is one of them. Marris, what you ever

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Speaker 1: been in meetings about this? What's going on and what

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Speaker 1: do you support? Do you have a view yet?

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Speaker 3: This is sort of hilariously funny because when your producer

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Speaker 3: first asked me, I said, oh, no, it's totally top

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Speaker 3: secret because we were told this was completely confidential. And

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Speaker 3: then it's three thirty of press release came out saying

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Speaker 3: that because the Mowbray Williams syndicate had already gone public

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Speaker 3: to the media about it, we were now free to

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Speaker 3: talk about it. So what a difference three hours makes. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: there are going to be three different presentations We've had

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Speaker 3: the Mowbray Williams one where they're looking to make it

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Speaker 3: a twelve and a half thousand seat stadium but also

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Speaker 3: include a whole range of other things like sports facilities,

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Speaker 3: indoor basketball, paddle ball courts and so on. The first

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Speaker 3: one that I think was that's the first one, and

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Speaker 3: we've had that presentation. Then CRS Records Limit are going

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Speaker 3: to there are privately funded transformation into a premiere live

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Speaker 3: entertainment concert festival venue with about forty five thousand capability

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Speaker 3: of seating. And then the third one yet to come

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Speaker 3: as Ponsonby Rugby Club who want to extend their current

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Speaker 3: occupancy and expand their operation into other sports to enable

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Speaker 3: the venue to host fifty thousands on. So I can't

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Speaker 3: make too much of a comment on it because I'll

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Speaker 3: be one of the people finally deciding on which one

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Speaker 3: of these three. But they're all coming before us in

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Speaker 3: a sort of a beauty contest to propose what they

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Speaker 3: wanted to do and what they're wanting to use the

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Speaker 3: stadium for.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like the cheapest one for the ratepayers would

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Speaker 1: be the billionaires, right.

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Speaker 3: I'm not going to comment on that. We didn't get

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Speaker 3: enough of the numbers. Actually, one of the things I

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Speaker 3: was disappointed at the first presentation is I want to

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Speaker 3: know what we get that as ratepayers and the council

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Speaker 3: will get back. It was all very well to see

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Speaker 3: lovely pictures of what it would look like and how

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Speaker 3: many people would be able to go there, and what

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Speaker 3: functions and features. I'm really a bit flinty faced on this,

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Speaker 3: and I want to know what's the sum of money

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Speaker 3: that we will get back into the coffers to help

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Speaker 3: take the burden off rate payers.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, fair enough, Jack, because one of the options is

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Speaker 1: for the Ponsonbee Rugby Club, and laudable as that might sound,

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Speaker 1: it does also sound like it might be ratepayers on

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Speaker 1: the hook for it.

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Speaker 2: Well, sort of wonder two which of these operations could

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Speaker 2: go elsewhere, right, and which would ultimately benefit the most people.

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Speaker 2: And as someone who has gone to the speedway, thea

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Speaker 2: a fair bit and has also become a diehard Auckland

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Speaker 2: FC fan over the last six months or so season

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Speaker 2: ticket holder. Don't worry about that. I love it, absolutely

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Speaker 2: love it. Love the idea of having a stadium that

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Speaker 2: with that kind of intimacy. Twelve and a half thousand

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Speaker 2: that close to town so that people could go along and

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Speaker 2: support the football. I mean, there was just something about

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Speaker 2: going to live sport in a stadium that's full that's

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Speaker 2: just so wonderful. And you know, one of the things

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Speaker 2: we've learned from go Media or Mounsmart, you know, throughout

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Speaker 2: the course of the A League season, is that they've

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Speaker 2: actually consistently got more than twelve and a half thousand

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Speaker 2: people there. So I was actually a little surprised that

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Speaker 2: their stadium proposal wasn't slightly larger. But it does sound

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Speaker 2: like from the limited details we have at the moment,

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Speaker 2: there would be lots of options the indoor option as well,

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Speaker 2: maybe some courts for other kids to play basketball and

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Speaker 2: the like. And yeah, you know, we won't be able

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Speaker 2: to fully throw our weight behind an option until we

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Speaker 2: have all of the details for those other two proposals.

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Speaker 2: But I would have thought when it comes to something

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Speaker 2: like Ponsumi Rugby Club, which is an absolute institution, you

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Speaker 2: would hope that some sort of agreement could be made

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Speaker 2: to support the club and moving to different facilities right

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Speaker 2: with the other b Having that land that's central is

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Speaker 2: just a massive opportunity.

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Speaker 1: Totally, Jack, how much did you see some pass costs

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Speaker 1: for the ac curiousity.

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Speaker 2: I think it was like a well for an adult

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Speaker 2: and a kid. It was like a thousand bucks at

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Speaker 2: the start of the season.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that's quite good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe something more, but it's really good. There's like

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Speaker 2: a member's lounge area as well, and you get you know,

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Speaker 2: various bits of merchant things. But yeah, it was very

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Speaker 2: good value. Well, we're proved to be very good value.

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Speaker 2: It's easy to support them while it's winning.

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Speaker 1: Just while we're on the subject, how much do you

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Speaker 1: get paid?

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Speaker 2: You can see that one coming. Look, I get paid

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Speaker 2: money and fair words, But I would support the idea

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Speaker 2: of anyone having, you know, having the right to tell

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Speaker 2: their colleagues how much they're in And I know that

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Speaker 2: at the moment it's only restricted to people who signed

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Speaker 2: contracts that prevent them from doing so. I think you know,

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Speaker 2: a publicity or reporting function that mandated everyone knew how

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Speaker 2: much everyone earned. That's too far from me. But I

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Speaker 2: think giving giving employees the option to share their salary

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Speaker 2: with other people is perfectly reasonable.

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Speaker 3: Okay, but that's not what that's not what this is doing.

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Speaker 3: So I'm a big fan. If you want to share

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Speaker 3: how much you're earning with your colleague. But if your

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Speaker 3: employer says, look, i'd really like to put you on

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Speaker 3: a quite a higher rate, and because you're so good

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Speaker 3: at what you do. But if I tell all the

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Speaker 3: rest of the people and the team, that'll blow it

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Speaker 3: to pieces and I have to leave you back at

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Speaker 3: the same level. So I'm putting a clause in your

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Speaker 3: contract that says you just can't tell them what you're on.

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Speaker 3: You can easily say no, I don't want that, Okay, well,

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Speaker 3: then you'll go back to the same level as everybody else.

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Speaker 3: I think if it's in your contract and you sign it,

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Speaker 3: then that's an obligation you have to have of not

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Speaker 3: telling people what you're.

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Speaker 2: I totally agree. If it's in the contract then you

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Speaker 2: sign it, then that is an obligation. But I just

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Speaker 2: don't know that.

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Speaker 1: It needs to be in contract.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not sure that that the scenario that you've

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Speaker 2: just drivers necessarily happen happening all that often.

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Speaker 3: I don't just happening very often a tour. But I

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Speaker 3: think if an employer says, you've got to wear a

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Speaker 3: blue tie when you come to work in my office,

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Speaker 3: and I'm going to put that in your contract and

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Speaker 3: I'm going to pay you.

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Speaker 2: Extra way grand more or something.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, And then then you can either say no,

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Speaker 3: I'm not having that, and he said, right, well let's

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Speaker 3: take that out and that will reduce you.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'd be saying I'd be coming to work with

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Speaker 1: two blue ties. Hey, guys, thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: coming on. Great to have you both on it. As always.

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Speaker 1: Marris Williams cent upland Councilor Jack Tam, host of Saturday

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Speaker 1: Mornings on News Talks, he'd be and Q and A

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Speaker 1: over at TV one.

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Speaker 3: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive.

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Speaker 2: Listen live to News Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays,

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Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio