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Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks' be follow

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Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Local government Minister Simeon Brown has decided to place a

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Speaker 2: Crown observer on Wellington City Council following its decision to

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Speaker 2: reopen its long term Plan and studio is our senior

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Speaker 2: political correspondent Barry Soaper get Ape Perry.

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Speaker 3: Hello, lads, how are we today?

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Speaker 4: Very good? Thank you better since you have wanted into

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Speaker 4: the room. What powers does an observer have?

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Speaker 3: Not a lot of powers actually as an observer status,

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Speaker 3: so the person appointed will sit in on the meetings.

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Speaker 3: And clearly the city Council in Wearnington hasn't been going

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Speaker 3: according to plan in the long term plan being the

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Speaker 3: operative plan that they should have been after and Tory

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Speaker 3: Farnal has been an absolute disaster as mayor. And she

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Speaker 3: was up at Parliament last week talking to Sammy and

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Speaker 3: Brown came away as she normally does, chirpy and saying,

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Speaker 3: oh no, he never mentioned me think about government intervention. Well,

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Speaker 3: it just goes to show how closely she reads the situation.

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Speaker 4: Is that a case where the observer makes report and

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Speaker 4: takes it to the government or is the observer reporting

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Speaker 4: back constantly? Is this a mol type situation?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, constantly that sime and Brown as the local

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Speaker 3: government minister, he will get reports, updated reports from the

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Speaker 3: observer and if they have to take any further intervention

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Speaker 3: then they will do based on what the observer is

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Speaker 3: taking in that the issue really hears that it seems

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Speaker 3: that Tory Farna and her lot don't understand financing because

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Speaker 3: there is under three waters away to finance that the

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Speaker 3: government enabled through legislation since becoming government a year ago.

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Speaker 3: Clearly they don't know how to do it. So they're

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Speaker 3: going to be shown how to do it. And if

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Speaker 3: they didn't do it then rates would be front loaded

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Speaker 3: onto rate paths to the tune of seven hundred million

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Speaker 3: dollars over the next ten years. And I'll tell you what,

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Speaker 3: I'm pleased. I'm not a rate payer in Wellington. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this is a big serve, isn't it

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Speaker 2: to the council saying bark up or we're going to

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Speaker 2: seek you effectively.

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Speaker 3: Oh? Absolutely. You saw it happening in Tarrong. And of

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Speaker 3: course they've just concluded with Marty Drysdale. I think the

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Speaker 3: mayor and tarrong Are now that they had an election,

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Speaker 3: that he could have come down harder on the council

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Speaker 3: and called for an early election, but that probably would

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Speaker 3: have reinforced what is a impossible situation there at the moment.

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Speaker 3: So he decided the observer is the best way to go,

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Speaker 3: and I happened to agree with him.

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Speaker 4: But it was inevitable, so humiliating for some of the

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Speaker 4: Wellington City Council. But some of them were keen on this,

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Speaker 4: weren't they.

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Speaker 3: Well, if you look at Nikola Young, for example, she's

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Speaker 3: been on z B constantly telling us that an observer

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Speaker 3: has to be appointed because they getting nowhere with Torri Vanu.

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Speaker 3: And you only have to look at recent interviews with

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Speaker 3: this mayor to understand that she doesn't understand very much

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Speaker 3: about what she's talking about most of the time, and

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Speaker 3: even during the course of an interview we'll have to

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Speaker 3: correct herself about what she said earlier, and she had

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Speaker 3: a rush of blood to the head.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: So if the preserver keeps reporting back that things are

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Speaker 4: dysfunctional and aren't going to improve, do they then bring

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Speaker 4: in a commissioner?

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Speaker 3: Yep, they can do that and that'll override the council

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Speaker 3: and make decisions on behalf of what is a democratically

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Speaker 3: elected council. You're going to get these screamers on the

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Speaker 3: sidelines now saying this is overturning the democratic process. Well, sorry,

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Speaker 3: sometimes a democratic process doesn't work the way it should do.

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Speaker 3: In Wellington, there is no doubt that cycle ways seem

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Speaker 3: to be more important than waterways, and we've got plenty

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Speaker 3: of those flowing down the streets in the Capitol at

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Speaker 3: the moment.

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Speaker 2: So what happens today? Does the observer go and today

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Speaker 2: kick open the doors and say open up your books

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Speaker 2: because I'm here to make change it.

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Speaker 3: No, it's not quite that dramatic, but the minister has

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Speaker 3: to appoint. No doubt they've got an observer in mind,

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Speaker 3: so they have to appoint one, and there is due

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Speaker 3: process to be followed because it is a significant step

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Speaker 3: and it's not the first time it's been done, and

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Speaker 3: it probably won't be the last.

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Speaker 1: For more from News Talks B listen live on air

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Speaker 1: or online and keep our shows with you wherever you

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