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Speaker 1: Good evening. It is five oh seven. Karen Shaw has

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Speaker 1: stepped in to save the Bernado's youth helpline eight hundred.

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Speaker 1: What's up? The Prime Minister was briefed on this last

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Speaker 1: night at the Beehive and an unusual step. It was

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Speaker 1: an OT contract and last year you'll remember that OT

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Speaker 1: providers were told their funding would be reduced or discontinued

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Speaker 1: as their contracts came up for renewal in the new

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Speaker 1: financial year. Karen Shaw has now paused OT's review of

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Speaker 1: the contracts and she has extended them until the end

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Speaker 1: of this year, which is a big move. The Minister

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Speaker 1: for Children is with me now. High Minister, Hi Ryan,

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Speaker 1: how's it going good? Thank you? What happened last night?

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Speaker 1: Why did the PM core you into the beehive?

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Speaker 2: So an issue was raised with me in regards to

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Speaker 2: a contract with Bernados, and it was looking like a

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Speaker 2: certain program was going to be affected with some of

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Speaker 2: the decisions that were being made. So I had asked

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Speaker 2: for more information and I had to make a decision

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Speaker 2: with that information, and so I had a discussion with

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Speaker 2: the CE and the DCE around those decisions, and then

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Speaker 2: I sat down with the Prime Minister and had a

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Speaker 2: really good conversation with the solution that I had come to,

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Speaker 2: and we both came to the same conclusion that were

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Speaker 2: the right set of actions to take, and that was

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Speaker 2: for me to intervene.

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Speaker 1: How much extra will it cost and who's going to pay?

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Speaker 2: So this is not going to cost us any extra.

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Speaker 2: This was a standard review process of funding for service

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Speaker 2: providers and this just happened to be Bernado's round of

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Speaker 2: the review. So what we're saying is, while we are

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Speaker 2: going through another process this year with the Social Investment Agency,

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Speaker 2: that it may be a good idea to put on

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Speaker 2: pause the review that's happening. No point in doing both

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Speaker 2: because ordering a tamidique now has to look into what

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Speaker 2: contracts may look like with the Social Investment Agency. But

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Speaker 2: I need to be assured that oh eight hundred What's

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Speaker 2: Up Hotline is safe and secure for the many young

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Speaker 2: people who used this when they're in terrible times. But

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Speaker 2: I also need to make sure that there is stability

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Speaker 2: and security within the sector whilst we work through this

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Speaker 2: social investment approach.

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Speaker 1: Fair enough, but why are you just picking up on

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Speaker 1: Bernado's and this What's Up Hotline? What about all the

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Speaker 1: programs that were cut last year that you didn't step

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Speaker 1: in for.

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Speaker 2: So there are over five hundred and fifty providers with

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Speaker 2: ordering ATOMATICQUE. Over the last year, there has been a

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Speaker 2: review process that has gone about. Things have been come

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Speaker 2: to my attention where people are concerned about the process.

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Speaker 2: I have asked for information on notes, but this particular

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Speaker 2: situation here, I have concerned that the process did not

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Speaker 2: meet my expectations and it would not be right for

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Speaker 2: me to not intervene when it's very clear it didn't

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Speaker 2: meet my expectations.

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Speaker 1: What exactly was wrong.

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Speaker 2: I can't go into details around the negotiation stage of

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Speaker 2: what they were speaking to, but what I can say

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Speaker 2: it was clear to me that the process in this

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Speaker 2: case did not meet my expectations.

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Speaker 1: Was that because of the actions of a particular person.

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Speaker 2: I'm not going to go into details with that, but

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Speaker 2: what I can say is I have.

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Speaker 1: Is anyone going to get any employment issues over this?

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Speaker 1: I guess is what I'm getting at.

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Speaker 2: So I have sat down with the c and the

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Speaker 2: DCE and reset my priorities with them and my expectations.

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Speaker 2: It is now up to them to deliver on those expectations,

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Speaker 2: and I've made that very clear.

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Speaker 1: Okay, but I guess the public will be going this

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Speaker 1: all seems a bit weird and cloak and dagger. Are

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Speaker 1: they running around rough shot over your over processes that

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Speaker 1: have already been laid down, or is there one rogue

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Speaker 1: person who's gone a bit wild here?

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Speaker 2: Look, there are many contracts, Like I've said, there's over

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Speaker 2: five hundred and fifty contracts in this one particular case

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Speaker 2: that has been brought to my attention. It has been

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Speaker 2: very clear that this is an issue. We're not always

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Speaker 2: going to get something one hundred percent perfect, but when

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Speaker 2: something does go wrong, it actually is important to address

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Speaker 2: that and address that quickly before it does become an issue.

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Speaker 2: So no decisions were actually made, they were still in

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Speaker 2: the negotiation process, but it was clear to me that

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Speaker 2: there was a certain service that maybe under threat and

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Speaker 2: I wanted to make sure that we.

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Speaker 1: Took close you off. You said someone came.

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Speaker 2: So it was brought to my officer's attention on Tuesday

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Speaker 2: from the actual organization itself, and then on Wednesday, I

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Speaker 2: dealt with.

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Speaker 1: This issue, okay, and you got the PM involved or

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Speaker 1: did he hear about it?

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Speaker 2: So this was something that we were both concerned about.

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Speaker 2: We were both given the same information at the same time.

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Speaker 2: We were both concerned about that, and so I dealt

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Speaker 2: with it on my end how I should have, and

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Speaker 2: then met with him around what we had decided.

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Speaker 1: Okay, I mean really, I mean that's Look, I'm not

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Speaker 1: criticizing you, but it's sort of embarrassing for you that

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Speaker 1: Bernardos has to go to your boss and then he

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Speaker 1: has to get involved. OT should be telling you what

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Speaker 1: they're looking at cutting if it's something so significant, right.

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Speaker 2: That's not what I said to you. What I said

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Speaker 2: to you was I was given the information, the PM

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Speaker 2: was given the information. I was dealing with it on

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Speaker 2: my end, and then I sat down with the Prime

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Speaker 2: Minister and talked through my concerns what I had decided

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Speaker 2: to do. He talked through with me, and we both

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Speaker 2: came to the same conclusion that that was the right

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Speaker 2: set of actions to take. So this is not about

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Speaker 2: the PM getting involved. This is about an agency that

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Speaker 2: was concerned about a decision for their future of a

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Speaker 2: helpfuline that is very important. I'm glad they reached out.

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Speaker 2: That's what I've been asking agencies to do over the

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Speaker 2: last year. If you have a concern about something, reach

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Speaker 2: out to me, I'll look into it and this is

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Speaker 2: exactly what I've done.

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Speaker 1: All Right, Minister, thank you very much for your time.

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Speaker 1: Thirteen after five News Talks ZB. That's Karen Shaw, who's

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Speaker 1: the Children's Minister.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather dou Glassy Allen Drive.

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Speaker 1: Listen live to News TALKSB from four pm weekdays, or

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Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.