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Speaker 1: Very sober senior political correspondence with US. Now, Hey, Barry,

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Speaker 1: good afternoon. Yeah. Was it a shock to you to

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Speaker 1: hear that Nicky Kay had got the sun?

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Speaker 2: Well, yes it was. You know, I think we all

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Speaker 2: knew how sick she was, and when she received the

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Speaker 2: diagnosis in twenty sixteen, as John Key has said, and

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Speaker 2: you'll be talking to him shortly, that she knew that

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Speaker 2: it was terminal. She's lasted quite a long time following it.

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Speaker 2: But you know, she was a kick ass type politician.

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Speaker 2: I really liked her. She had spunk. She was the

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Speaker 2: Auckland Central MP one it over Jacinda Durn twice, so

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Speaker 2: she was a very valued member of the National Party.

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Speaker 2: She was the first and now the only National Party

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Speaker 2: MP that's held Auckland Central. And I was talking to

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Speaker 2: some Greens today and they say, well, you know, Chloe

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Speaker 2: Swarbrick's actually quite lucky that Nicki Kay bowed out of

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Speaker 2: politics when she did in two thousand and twenty, because

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Speaker 2: she may not, well probably not. She wouldn't have made

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Speaker 2: it back. It wouldn have made it into.

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Speaker 1: Parliam Chloe Chloe, because Chloe wouldn't have been able to

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Speaker 1: beat her to Beta.

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Speaker 2: No. I mean, she knew how to campaign. What I

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Speaker 2: liked about Nicki was that after she got out of politics,

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Speaker 2: she went to Great Barrier, Ireland, and she was going

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Speaker 2: to build a house there and she really liked the people,

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Speaker 2: she said, because the people on Great Barrier were very

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Speaker 2: grounded sort of people, and she said she really fitted

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Speaker 2: in there. So that was a nice counterbalance to what

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Speaker 2: politics is, because it's a very rough business. And I

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Speaker 2: think probably she would reflect if she was alive. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 2: she would reflect that throwing her weight behind Todd Muller

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Speaker 2: and that very short leadership he had at the National

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Speaker 2: Party when she was deputy was probably a mistake, but

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Speaker 2: you know, everybody makes mistakes in politics.

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Speaker 1: Very hard worker. I remember this one story that was

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Speaker 1: told to me by somebody who worked in the beehive.

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Speaker 1: It was one of the earthquakes, and I can't remember

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Speaker 1: which one. It was earthquake or some sort of civil

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Speaker 1: defense emergency had happened and she was already headed out

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Speaker 1: towards the airport in a Crown car and it had

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Speaker 1: hit the Mountain of Tunnel and so she got the

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Speaker 1: Crown but was the minister I think of emergency civil

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Speaker 1: defense or something like that. And needed to get back

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Speaker 1: to the bee Hive bunker, and so she made the

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Speaker 1: Crown car turn around as soon as possible and drive back,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't going fast enough for the traffic, so

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Speaker 1: she got out of the Crown Car and ran to

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Speaker 1: the b hype in her high fields.

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Speaker 2: That doesn't surprise me when she when you consider it,

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Speaker 2: she was a very good athlete. Yeah, she ran a

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Speaker 2: lot of marathons. She did the coast to coast, so

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Speaker 2: you know, she was a very fit young woman and tragically,

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Speaker 2: at forty four she died. That's awful.

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Speaker 1: Okay, hey, sound do you like David Seymore was getting

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Speaker 1: under Chris Luxen's skin.

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Speaker 2: I most certainly think so. He Today David Simul was

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Speaker 2: talking about health and how he'd like to see I

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Speaker 2: heard him on another interview how he'd like to see

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Speaker 2: private input into our struggling public health system. And he

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Speaker 2: said that you'll hear more from ACT about that next year.

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Speaker 2: And you know, again that's him establishing ACT as a

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Speaker 2: separate party certainly in this coalition. The ACT leader also

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Speaker 2: raises issues with the private medical school in the Waikato

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Speaker 2: being talted there. The Hosque asked the Prime Minister this

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Speaker 2: morning whether there's a stash brewing between him and Seymour

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Speaker 2: over that particular school, which Seymour says the initial business

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Speaker 2: case showed that the cost per student is just simply

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Speaker 2: too high. It was a fairly direct Chris Luxe and

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Speaker 2: I'd put it to you who put Seymour in his

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Speaker 2: place today.

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Speaker 3: We were in the stage of wanting a detailed business

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Speaker 3: case for that. It's important it gets a really good

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Speaker 3: commercial appraisal and run over. But all respect, David Seamo

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Speaker 3: was not the Minister of Health. He's the Minister of Regulation.

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Speaker 3: He needs to focus on that. Shane Ready's the Minister

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Speaker 3: of Health and again no disrespect. I mean David's the

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Speaker 3: Minister of Regulation, he ain't the Minister of Health. And

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Speaker 3: so Shane Ready's leading us through that process. We're making

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Speaker 3: sure there's good commercial appraisal over it. We understand you know,

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Speaker 3: it's a big investment and like everything, we want to

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Speaker 3: make sure we've got more rigorous, robust business cases. And

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Speaker 3: that's been part of the problem and what we've seen

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Speaker 3: and what we've inherited.

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Speaker 1: So we'll work our way through that.

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Speaker 2: So that's the white cut home.

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Speaker 1: But hold on a tack. Wasn't it in the coalition

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Speaker 1: agreement that there would be a cost benefit analysis of

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Speaker 1: it between acter National?

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Speaker 2: Initial one has been done, Yeah, but now they're doing

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Speaker 2: a new one because the initial one was done in

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Speaker 2: twenty sixteen and even the university itself says it's probably outdated. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: the costs of grinded now they're looking at about three

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Speaker 2: hundred and twenty million over ten years, and the cost

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Speaker 2: per student is about fourteen and a half thousand. So

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Speaker 2: you know, they say they want to do it again.

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Speaker 1: But isn't it part of the coalition agreement between ACT

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Speaker 1: and National that there will be a cost benefit analysis

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Speaker 1: done or of this medical school, in which case it's

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Speaker 1: only fair that the ACT party leader does pipe up

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Speaker 1: about it because it's part of the coalition agreement.

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Speaker 2: But he's Luxeon's taking it further with a second cost analysis,

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Speaker 2: and you know, I think it'll go ahead. I don't

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Speaker 2: think there's any question.

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Speaker 1: Well I don't know about that, but well I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I think it will And it was interesting again. Seymour

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Speaker 2: this afternoon put out a statement, Yeah, Lane claimed to

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Speaker 2: know fewer than sixty nine reforms that they've contributed to

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Speaker 2: over the past year, and you could be forgiven for

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Speaker 2: thinking that act These were all acts reforms, and of

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Speaker 2: course they were the coalition government's reforms, and it's that

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Speaker 2: sort of thing. I think that probably a few were

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Speaker 2: the Pride.

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Speaker 1: Which is why David doesn't get invited to the dinners.

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Speaker 2: Well, that's right, and it'll be nice to see next

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Speaker 2: year when David sitting alongside Chris Lux in the debating chamber,

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Speaker 2: probably the debate will center on that particular seat.

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Speaker 1: Interesting. Thanks very much, Very Soper, Senior Political Correspondence.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays. Follow the

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