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Speaker 1: Now the government's pushed to get the public servants back

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Speaker 1: into offices and Wellington is catching on. Half the city

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Speaker 1: Chief executive in Auckland, Verbeck, says Auckland Council should lead

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Speaker 1: by example. The council, however, of course, says it has

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Speaker 1: no intention to do that. Verve Becka's with us. Now, Hey,

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Speaker 1: viv hello, how much of a difference would it make

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Speaker 1: if the Auckland Council workers were actually back in the city.

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Speaker 2: Well, overall, we're about thirty thousand people down in the

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Speaker 2: morning peak on weekdays day. That's a lot of people, yes,

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Speaker 2: every day if you look before COVID and some of

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Speaker 2: that is all the construction and some of it is

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Speaker 2: COVID and working from Hume. And obviously Auckland Council can't

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Speaker 2: single handedly change that. And I do understand one size

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Speaker 2: doesn't fit all, but I am thinking this is a

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Speaker 2: good initiative to tighten those working from home policies. And

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Speaker 2: really I'm saying to council there's an opportunity to take

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Speaker 2: a lead here.

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Speaker 1: What proportion of the inner city workforce is thirty thousand.

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Speaker 2: Well, put it this way, we're about that's about We're

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Speaker 2: about thirty percent down.

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Speaker 1: Wow, Okay, that's really significant. So this will be this

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Speaker 1: will be felt by basically the same story as as

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Speaker 1: in Wellington, by the hosper guys and the retail guys

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Speaker 1: and so on, they will notice.

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Speaker 2: Yea, yeah it does. Yeah. And this also just has

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Speaker 2: that effect on the vibrancy of the place. You know,

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Speaker 2: it just feels better when there are more people around.

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Speaker 2: I mean, we're fortunate we get tourists, we've got people

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Speaker 2: living here, we have events. But that's a big So

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Speaker 2: that's a foot traffic. But in terms of the peak,

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Speaker 2: that morning peak, you know, that's that's around twenty percent

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Speaker 2: fewer than we had before. But in terms of foot traffic,

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Speaker 2: we're actually thirty percent down. So you know, the reality

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Speaker 2: is it's a significant impact. And you know, I understand

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Speaker 2: flexibility is around, and I mean I implemented flexibility in

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Speaker 2: a business many years ago and people said you couldn't

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Speaker 2: do it. But the real is we have got a

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Speaker 2: significant shortfull of people and it's quite some way off

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Speaker 2: before the CRL opens. And what we've been saying to

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Speaker 2: counsel and to be fair, we're getting a fair hearing

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Speaker 2: and basically saying to them that we need to do

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Speaker 2: everything we can to get people back here because there's

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Speaker 2: no point waiting for the CRL and expecting fifty four

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Speaker 2: thousand people to pop out every hour. We've actually got

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Speaker 2: to keep the place alive and vibrant, and this is

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Speaker 2: one way that would make a difference. So I'm really

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Speaker 2: just asking them to reassess their policy.

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Speaker 1: You have a good relationship with Wayne Brown, because I

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Speaker 1: mean it's one thing for Auckland Council to say, naw,

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Speaker 1: they're not going to do it, because I mean, this

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Speaker 1: is exactly what you expect from bureaucrats. But Waine might

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Speaker 1: be able to whip them into shape.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's another conversation I can have. But you

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Speaker 2: to be a fair right, No, to be fair. I've

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Speaker 2: got a good hearing from the mayor and counselors, and

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Speaker 2: I have had to from the chief executive around the

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Speaker 2: importance of getting people back into the central city and

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Speaker 2: you know some of the things that happen right now

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Speaker 2: that are deterrents I'm asking them to change.

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Speaker 1: How can you say you had a fair hearing when

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Speaker 1: like day two of this they came out and they go.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, not on this What I'm saying is

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Speaker 2: I presented to them some weeks ago and raised these points,

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Speaker 2: got a fair hearing, and I'm just continuing to remind

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Speaker 2: them that this matters absolutely.

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Speaker 1: The best of luck with it. I really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: That's VIVBC Heart of the City Chief Executive. Yet I mean,

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Speaker 1: just how much is how much? Is Auckland Council just

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Speaker 1: basically another version of the bloated the blob in Wellington.

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Speaker 1: Auckland Council says it has no intention of changing its

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Speaker 1: policy which requires staff members to work only three days

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Speaker 1: a week in person. All right for some, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: I tell you what ratepayers are paying those people's bills.

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Speaker 1: If we can slap our butts into the office three

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Speaker 1: days a week, five days a week, sorry, and fight

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Speaker 1: the buses and the trains and the commuter traffic, and

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Speaker 1: we can find childcare for our children if we can

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Speaker 1: do it five days a week. Frankly, you can too.

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Speaker 1: Stop being lazy.

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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, or follow

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.