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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: Let's have a chat about the Chateau tong Areto. Demolition

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Speaker 2: of that beautiful building remains an option on the government's

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Speaker 2: tables as the heritage listed site is still considered a

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Speaker 2: fiscal risk, so it's currently costing approximately two million dollars

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Speaker 2: a year to keep in its derelict state. To discuss

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Speaker 2: this further, we're joined by Ruapehu District mayor Western Curtain Western.

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Speaker 2: Very very good afternoon to you.

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Speaker 3: Yes, good afternoon guys. Good to be on. Thanks for

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Speaker 3: the opportunity.

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Speaker 4: What are the biggest challenges in restoring the chateau.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's got a whole lot of issues around earthquake strengthening,

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Speaker 3: and of course it's nearty one hundred years old building,

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Speaker 3: so these a refresher reset in terms of, you know,

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Speaker 3: how it is presented to the public. It's a high

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Speaker 3: end hotel that needs to be refurbished and we hope

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Speaker 3: that we can do that in their future.

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Speaker 4: How realistic is it for private investors to handle such

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Speaker 4: a large redevelopment without public money.

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Speaker 3: Oh well, that's a really It's a good question, and

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Speaker 3: I'm confident that we have the expertise in our country,

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Speaker 3: we have the balance sheet with these developers to do

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Speaker 3: the job. That is one of the issues. The other issue,

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Speaker 3: of course is the land that's I've been occupied in

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Speaker 3: that area is of course the Compartment of Conservation, which

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Speaker 3: of course government have the authority over and of course

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Speaker 3: with local EI that we need to actually address that issue.

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Speaker 3: So it's one thing to say, you know, can it

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Speaker 3: be done by developers? The answer is yes, do we

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Speaker 3: have the balance sheet to do that in our country,

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Speaker 3: Yes we do, but we don't have a roadmap from

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Speaker 3: central government perspective to actually make the platform available for

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Speaker 3: these investors to actually make the call. So we're not

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Speaker 3: talking about taxpayer money here. We're talking about partnership perhaps

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Speaker 3: amongst developers. But I'm confident that we can get the

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Speaker 3: Dutch in a row over course of the next year

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Speaker 3: or two to actually see this project away, and I'm

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Speaker 3: confident that we'll see another heritage building the chateau up

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Speaker 3: and running.

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Speaker 4: So what do the governments specifically need to do to

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Speaker 4: help the chateau survive.

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Speaker 3: It's quite complicated in terms of the previous owners that

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Speaker 3: own the building prior, and they need to be satisfied

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Speaker 3: of course that they have a you know, that it's

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Speaker 3: actually good to go. Once that happens, then they're going

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Speaker 3: to start talking about occupancy of that particular land and

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Speaker 3: that the buildings under And that is the issue here

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Speaker 3: is that at docker state there are rules and regulations

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Speaker 3: around the length of time that a occupier can actually

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Speaker 3: have that particular land. My understanding is, and then limited

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Speaker 3: knowledge around the time frames, but my understanding is thirty

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Speaker 3: years is the sort of concession period under the legislation

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Speaker 3: currently That just doesn't fit with the sort of magnitude

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Speaker 3: of the project. We're talking two hundred million dollars and

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Speaker 3: of course in development terms, we need one hundred and

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Speaker 3: twenty years to actually occupy that particular property. So it's

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Speaker 3: complicated and that that change needs to happen, and only

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Speaker 3: the government can actually influence that precision.

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Speaker 2: Just talking about the two million dollars a year approximately

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Speaker 2: annually that it's costing to keep the building as is

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Speaker 2: in its derelict state, few techs have come through asking

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Speaker 2: this question, western, how is that broken down? What is

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Speaker 2: that two million going towards? And who is paying for that.

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Speaker 3: Well, it's unsustainable in my view, so I've got some

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Speaker 3: issues personal issues with it, but my understanding is you've

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Speaker 3: got security, you've got the heating you must you know,

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Speaker 3: it's got boilers there that keep it dry, and there's

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Speaker 3: a certain amount of maintenance that the limited number of

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Speaker 3: staff Department conservation staff to actually occupy that and keep it,

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Speaker 3: I guess, up and running. So there is still a

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Speaker 3: lot of contents inside there, artwork for example, a lot

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Speaker 3: of betting, and a lot of issues there around you know,

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Speaker 3: the teurniture, So there's a lot of money being spent there,

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Speaker 3: but it's certainly not going into paint work or renovations.

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Speaker 3: It's basically stopping the leaks and just trying to keep

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Speaker 3: a cap of it. But it's just not sustainable. I

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Speaker 3: think that's a good reason why the government need to

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Speaker 3: come out and actually give confidence to the New Zealand

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Speaker 3: public that they are certainly behind this project. And I

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Speaker 3: know that a lot of members of Parliament are saying

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Speaker 3: that they're really supportive of the petition that we've got

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Speaker 3: out there, and also supportive of this heritage building staying

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Speaker 3: as a high end hotel because of its iconic status.

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Speaker 3: Is the heritage building and they're part of our history.

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Speaker 3: So I'm confident that once the central government get together

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Speaker 3: and actually see the need to do this, then I'm

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Speaker 3: sure that they'll pave away the barriers to actually make

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Speaker 3: it happen.

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Speaker 4: We're talking to Ruapehu District mayor Western Curtain. So what

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Speaker 4: are the potential tourism and economic impacts if the hotel

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Speaker 4: as saved and how bad would it be if it

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Speaker 4: is not saved for your area?

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Speaker 3: Well, oh, thank you for us asking that, because that's

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Speaker 3: a big issue for our district. That creates well. When

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Speaker 3: it was in business we are prior to COVID, for example,

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Speaker 3: it was about ten million dollars to our local economy

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Speaker 3: and about thirty percent of our hotel beds that it provided,

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Speaker 3: but on many many jobs as well, So it's circulated

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Speaker 3: in the community many many times, and so it adds

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Speaker 3: value to the skiing industry, it adds value to our

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Speaker 3: economy in various shape or form, and just the fact

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Speaker 3: that it's a sort of a hub for other activities

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Speaker 3: has got potential of million millions of dollars. So what

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Speaker 3: we're talking about here is actually the shadow and it's

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Speaker 3: not an isolation we're talking about a village like concept

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Speaker 3: that gets around it and it actually adds value to

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Speaker 3: the whole region central North Islington, so there's a duel

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Speaker 3: in the crown for the PA Registrict Council or RuPay area.

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Speaker 3: But also it's very iconic for the rest of the country.

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Speaker 3: And I think that's where we're at, is that the

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Speaker 3: country is waiting with interest to see that this project

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Speaker 3: gets underway because it adds values to our tourism market

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Speaker 3: as a nation, and it's got international status as well.

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Speaker 3: So I think it's very important not only for our district.

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Speaker 3: Of course we've had a lot of interest for this

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Speaker 3: to happen, but I think I speak on behalf of many,

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Speaker 3: many people throughout the country, and we've already got about

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Speaker 3: thirty and a half thousand signatures that we're going to

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Speaker 3: present to the government in the next couple of months,

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Speaker 3: just to demonstrate that this is not just an isolation

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Speaker 3: a small building that it's done this day. I think

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Speaker 3: we're talking about something that is relevant and also it's

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Speaker 3: even though it's many a hundred years old, it's still

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Speaker 3: got relevance and I think it's heritage building and we've

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Speaker 3: got to.

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Speaker 2: Keep extending that lease out to say one hundred years

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Speaker 2: or whatever that number ends up being. But extending the

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Speaker 2: lease out, I can understand the logic behind that western

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Speaker 2: but is there some con soon if you do extend

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Speaker 2: that lease out and an international organization comes in that

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Speaker 2: that could create problems down the track with that length

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Speaker 2: of a lease.

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Speaker 3: Well, I'm not sure whether that actually it's going to

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Speaker 3: be a problem. I think you'll find that it'll be

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Speaker 3: a New Zealand company that owns it, and you also

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Speaker 3: you know how they deal with the government if not

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Speaker 3: local EWEI for example. My understanding is that not so

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Speaker 3: concerned about the land it's building in the time that

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Speaker 3: they need to actually recoup some of the money that

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Speaker 3: will lee money that they are going to invest in it.

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Speaker 3: It's going to remember, of course, the land's not going anywhere,

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Speaker 3: so you know, like you know, it's got to satisfy

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Speaker 3: the local community, including EWE saying this land will always

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Speaker 3: be in the rural paper district and probably I'm not speculating,

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Speaker 3: but it's lifely that local E we will have a

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Speaker 3: lot to say as to what happens to this land.

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Speaker 3: So it will never be a free title. It will

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Speaker 3: always be either EWE or SLASH New Zealand Crown and

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Speaker 3: that's where we're at. So the building could well be

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Speaker 3: in private hands, but the land won't be.

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Speaker 4: So essentially you're not asking for money, you're just asking

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Speaker 4: for clarity from the government.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely. This is not a bailout like it was with

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Speaker 3: the ski fields, for example, where the government put in

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Speaker 3: twenty or thirty million dollars to help that industry survive.

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Speaker 3: This is about actually making a romance and also giving

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Speaker 3: the community confidence that they can build this iconic building

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Speaker 3: and that we can develop hotel once again to res

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Speaker 3: former glory. So it's not public money as such, it's

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Speaker 3: just the government actually paving the way with a platform

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Speaker 3: for people to invest. And I think it's so fair

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Speaker 3: to say that this New Zealand government is coalition government

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Speaker 3: have been very vocal about partnerships and of course encouraging

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Speaker 3: outside businesses to come in and actually fund these other

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Speaker 3: than the government. So it's not a matter of actually

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Speaker 3: asking them for another, you know, one hundred million dollars

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Speaker 3: to allow this to go ahead. It's allowing the platform

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Speaker 3: for a government crown owned land to actually allow this

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Speaker 3: a partnership to actually happen.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, thank you so much for talking to us today.

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Speaker 4: That was Swiston Curtain Ruapeou District mitor.

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