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Speaker 1: So the COVID inquiries on looking at MiQ. We all

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Speaker 1: know that MiQ had noble aims and notable successes, but

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Speaker 1: we also know the execution was far from perfect and

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Speaker 1: many people ended out feeling ostracized. The whole idea of

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Speaker 1: this inquiry is to find out what went wrong so

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Speaker 1: we do better next time. Yesterday, Leis Morgan, the chief

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Speaker 1: operating manager of Sadima Hotels, wrote an incredible piece in

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Speaker 1: The Herald on the rights and wrongs of MiQ. I

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Speaker 1: want to read some of this. He learned at a

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Speaker 1: one pm briefing that his hotel had been requisitioned for

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Speaker 1: an MiQ facility. The problem is no one told him

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Speaker 1: or his team, and the first refugees were expected that day.

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Speaker 1: He wrote. The hotel in question have been closed indefinitely,

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Speaker 1: meaning staff have moved on. There were no consumables or

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Speaker 1: peep peep e on site. I'm proud to say our

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Speaker 1: local staff welcomed the first guest by eight pm that

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Speaker 1: same day with full ppe and operational procedures. These were

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Speaker 1: staff who had left the business earlier in lockdown, but

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Speaker 1: came back to bravely face an unknown health risk and

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Speaker 1: the enormous task of recommissioning our hotel all in the day,

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Speaker 1: or because they thought it was the right thing to

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Speaker 1: do to help save the lives of fellow New Zealanders.

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Speaker 1: They are all heroes and they deserve to be properly

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Speaker 1: recognized by the government. Damn right. There's a COVID memorial

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Speaker 1: wall in London. It's got two hundred and fifty thousand

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Speaker 1: individually hand painted red heart. It's so moving to see it.

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Speaker 1: We have nothing like that in New Zealand. This inquiry

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Speaker 1: will not give everybody what they want. It will prove

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Speaker 1: MiQ to be neither right or wrong, but it will

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Speaker 1: remind us that there were silent heroes in New Zealand

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Speaker 1: who we have not thanked nearly enough for More from

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Speaker 1: Early Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to News Talks

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Speaker 1: it be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.