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Speaker 1: There is a very good reason that National is talking

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Speaker 1: about revamping the Major Events Fund. It's the same reason

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Speaker 1: you're seeing them announced just half an hour ago they're

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Speaker 1: creating a new business investor Visa. Foreigners will get a

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Speaker 1: fast track to residency for chucking two million bucks into

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Speaker 1: a Kiwi business. It's the same reason they'll announce in

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Speaker 1: a few weeks. I reckon most reckon that some wealthy

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Speaker 1: investors will be able to buy expensive houses here. From November.

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Speaker 1: They're trialing visa free holidays for the Chinese coming here

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Speaker 1: via Australia, and you can expect to see more where

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Speaker 1: that came from. The reason is, of course, to boost growth,

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Speaker 1: but specifically they hope in our largest city. It's all

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Speaker 1: about Auckland, the colon. It's the giant missing piece of

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Speaker 1: the puzzle, their runway for sorting out the economy by

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Speaker 1: election time. Hinges on them throwing the kitchen sink at

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Speaker 1: the Jaffers. It's forty percent of our GDP. But a

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Speaker 1: sort of economic malaise has set and not everyone, not

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Speaker 1: in every industry, but the two speed recovery is real.

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Speaker 1: The vibes off a bit and the numbers back it up.

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Speaker 1: The prime Minister about this on Monday. He says, they're

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Speaker 1: basically looking at everything and anything for Auckland, and I

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Speaker 1: reckon they'll campaign on a bed tax, and I reckon

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Speaker 1: they'll announce that they intend to do this either late

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Speaker 1: this year or early next to win the next election.

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Speaker 1: You don't need to win all of Auckland, but if

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Speaker 1: you lose Auckland, you're stuffed. Ask Chippy. Labour scored twenty

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Speaker 1: nine percent of the party vote in Auckland at the

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three election. This is increasingly a city of

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Speaker 1: migrants and these policies are aimed at them, their families

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Speaker 1: and their businesses. Forty two percent of auckland Is were

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Speaker 1: born overseas along with Otago. It's where most of the

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Speaker 1: expensive houses are that those wealthy investors will be able

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Speaker 1: to buy to boost this economy in a short to

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Speaker 1: medium term window. The government's clearly targeting migration. Foreign investment,

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Speaker 1: which often comes through existing connections to a city. Foreign

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Speaker 1: students is another one. They're moving on, Chinese tourists and

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Speaker 1: big events. The question is how quickly can they give

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Speaker 1: this city the tickle up that it needs and have

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Speaker 1: they left enough of a runway to turn Things Around.

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Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talk Set B from five am weekdays, or

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Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio