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Speaker 1: Now Lindsay McKenzie is still busy at work. Now you

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Speaker 1: have forgotten his name because, like so much news these days,

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Speaker 1: it's hot stuff until it isn't. Lindsay's the bloke that

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Speaker 1: was appointed to watch over Wellington Council because of their dysfunction.

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Speaker 1: He's just written his second report. His first report seems

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Speaker 1: sort of sympathetic to my eye anyway. Ah, yes, they

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Speaker 1: were a mess, but they were decent sort of people,

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Speaker 1: that sort of thing. His second report seems to suggest

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Speaker 1: not a lot is getting better. Some counselors have continued,

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Speaker 1: he writes, their criticism of each other, and officers are

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Speaker 1: suspected of leaking information. He also says the community is

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Speaker 1: that it's wits end his words, not mine, wits end

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Speaker 1: over infrastructure, although most of that comes from the same complainers.

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Speaker 1: He's also noted since his first report, there's been several

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Speaker 1: incidences that have given rise to concerns about the organization's

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Speaker 1: ability to function. Now the question I have has given

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Speaker 1: the place is still to be found wanting what next.

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Speaker 1: So you might remember the minister at the time, Simming

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Speaker 1: and Brown put this bloke in as the least and

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Speaker 1: truser as opposed to a full commissioner or set of commissioners.

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Speaker 1: So far, so bad. So is he going to do

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Speaker 1: anything about any of this? Or is poor old Lindsay

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Speaker 1: set to write reports for the rest of his life.

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Speaker 1: In the report, though, I found a nugget of gold.

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Speaker 1: He recommends a review of the Local Government Act in

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Speaker 1: relation to the qualification for and capability to hold office. Yes, yes, yes, yes, please,

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Speaker 1: Let's actually treat these jobs as jobs, as opposed to

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Speaker 1: devils or fascinations or fiftoms. Let's actually require people, to

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Speaker 1: God forbid, have some skills. Now, the idea you can

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Speaker 1: just put your name for it for a job of

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Speaker 1: such responsibility is absurd, beyond belief, of course. And when

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Speaker 1: any idiot can have a crack, guess what you get,

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Speaker 1: Wellington is what you get. So let's get a bit

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Speaker 1: of professionalism, and then let's put a bit of hift

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Speaker 1: behind the job. Let's get some talent in the room.

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Speaker 1: If that recommendation is acted on, and I have no

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Speaker 1: doubt it won't be, because why would you fix anything

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Speaker 1: when you get ignore it? But if that was run with,

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Speaker 1: Lindsey would deserve, if not a knighthood, certainly keys to

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Speaker 1: a vastly better run City. For more from the mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to News Talk set B from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio