1
00:00:01,639 --> 00:00:04,760
Speaker 1: Wellington City councilors have emerged from that urgent closed door

2
00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,080
Speaker 1: crisis meeting this afternoon. It was called by the Mayor,

3
00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,440
Speaker 1: Tory Faro. She says, by the way, she's not even

4
00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:11,680
Speaker 1: close to resigning, and she's requested a meeting with Local

5
00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: Government Minister Simeon Brown tomorrow.

6
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,000
Speaker 2: The bar is pretty high for government intervention. We've not

7
00:00:17,079 --> 00:00:19,280
Speaker 2: met that threshold. So I want to meet with Minister

8
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,439
Speaker 2: Brown and show him that we're going to be fine.

9
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:25,200
Speaker 1: Wellington City Councilor Diane Calvitz with us. Now, hey, Diane, hi,

10
00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:27,960
Speaker 1: havether Okay? So obviously it was a crisis meeting that

11
00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:30,440
Speaker 1: was called in order to save the long term plan,

12
00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:32,640
Speaker 1: so that Tory can go to sime And tomorrow and

13
00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:34,559
Speaker 1: say here, we've got we've got a plan. You don't

14
00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:36,960
Speaker 1: need to intervene. Have you saved the long term plan?

15
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:43,000
Speaker 2: Well, look, let's a start. I mean, you know, now,

16
00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,000
Speaker 2: you know, people around the council table are acknowledging that

17
00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:52,000
Speaker 2: we need to make some cuts in our expenditure and

18
00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,760
Speaker 2: and you know, we had a good discussion about the

19
00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,440
Speaker 2: areas that we need to look at and sort of

20
00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,200
Speaker 2: the rough amounts we might need to cut.

21
00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:02,120
Speaker 1: How much do you need to cut?

22
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,200
Speaker 2: Well, you see, that's the thing is, we're still not

23
00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,119
Speaker 2: sure because the information that we've have been getting from

24
00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,760
Speaker 2: our officers has been varied were but we're looking sort

25
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:14,319
Speaker 2: of between three to five hundred million at this stage.

26
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:16,440
Speaker 2: You know that might be too much or you know

27
00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:17,280
Speaker 2: it may not be enough.

28
00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:18,320
Speaker 1: So what are you going to cut?

29
00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,440
Speaker 2: Probably it's likely to be in the transport space because

30
00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,080
Speaker 2: that's where you know a lot of our money is going.

31
00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:31,319
Speaker 2: And probably we're going to have to look at how

32
00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:34,760
Speaker 2: we can work smarter and cheap and quicker in some

33
00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,040
Speaker 2: of our social housing upgrades as well, because there's a

34
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:37,880
Speaker 2: lot of money being.

35
00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,480
Speaker 1: Prevent But so you guys have agreed to cut somewhere

36
00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,000
Speaker 1: in the region of three to five hundred million, and

37
00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:46,880
Speaker 1: probably in the transport space. This doesn't sound like a

38
00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:48,840
Speaker 1: like a like a plan has been nailed down.

39
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:51,080
Speaker 2: The plan hasn't been nailed down.

40
00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:53,480
Speaker 1: So there's no plan for her to take to Simon tomorrow, then,

41
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:53,720
Speaker 1: is it.

42
00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,840
Speaker 2: I think what she's got is an approach to take

43
00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,320
Speaker 2: to Semi and saying I've got agreement round the table

44
00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,200
Speaker 2: that we will make cuts. They're roughly in this area

45
00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,640
Speaker 2: are going to be roughly around this amount of money,

46
00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:08,720
Speaker 2: but we need more time to do more work.

47
00:02:08,760 --> 00:02:11,639
Speaker 1: Now, Diane, that's lovely, but I mean you guys all

48
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:14,320
Speaker 1: got together with the view of working together at the

49
00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,400
Speaker 1: very start and things have fallen apart, right, So this

50
00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,280
Speaker 1: means absolutely nothing, doesn't it because there's no there is

51
00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:21,840
Speaker 1: no assurance that you guys will actually be able to

52
00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:23,760
Speaker 1: agree on what to cut in the transport space.

53
00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:26,919
Speaker 2: Well, it was an effective stuff, but there's more work

54
00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,519
Speaker 2: to be done, and I think that's why. You know, Look,

55
00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,959
Speaker 2: you know, a facilitator is still required because toy does

56
00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:38,520
Speaker 2: need some assistance to help and navigate through the next

57
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:39,880
Speaker 2: few months at least.

58
00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 1: Okay, so you still think government intervention is necessary, Well, I.

59
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,000
Speaker 2: Think you know, I think you know, the mayor really

60
00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,960
Speaker 2: does need some assistance because we've been we've taken us

61
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,600
Speaker 2: two years for this to sort of come to boiling point,

62
00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:56,280
Speaker 2: but we've seen is you know, building up over it

63
00:02:56,360 --> 00:03:00,400
Speaker 2: over a time. So look, a good start today. It

64
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,960
Speaker 2: was a good feel around the table, but as you said,

65
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,680
Speaker 2: it's just pretty much high level and the devil gulves

66
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:08,280
Speaker 2: in the detail.

67
00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,280
Speaker 1: Hey, last I heard you guys all came down from

68
00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,560
Speaker 1: your meeting and the media was standing in the four

69
00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:15,960
Speaker 1: year Did Tory come down in the end or she's

70
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,240
Speaker 1: still up there in the office.

71
00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,720
Speaker 2: I never saw her come down, so I'm not aware

72
00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:26,760
Speaker 2: that she did. So I know some of us counselors

73
00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:28,359
Speaker 2: did come down.

74
00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:31,800
Speaker 1: Okay, Diane, thank you was always really appreciated. Ian Calvert,

75
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:35,360
Speaker 1: Wellington City Council. Laura is telling me in my headphones, Nay,

76
00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,120
Speaker 1: she didn't come down. Well, I mean, at least she

77
00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:40,640
Speaker 1: hasn't got COVID right, so that's something she showed up

78
00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,320
Speaker 1: for the meeting today. So you know, we'll take small

79
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:48,640
Speaker 1: mercies in the countdown. Blessings. For more from Hither Duplassy

80
00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,480
Speaker 1: Alan Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be from

81
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 1: four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio