Union Pay Rises

Correct, Jamie, and I've been a bit bemused um by the outrage in Auckland for their 7.9% increase when actually I guess uh some of our locals are celebrating a 22% rates increase um, I guess again, because it does seem slightly more palatable um than 45. But the sad fact is, Jamie, that anything less than 45% increase doesn't balance the books. And so we are simply kicking the can down the road, and um and disturbingly, not once have I seen an an austerity budget. Um and so many councillors asked for this, and we have actually got a really good bunch of councillors, they're all functioning human beings, which uh, you know, unlike some other councils and other areas of the country. Um, but we need to cut our cloth, and and you know, that's something that we've all been asking for. And I know it's easy for someone like me with Scottish Presbyterian genes to see um just see where the savings could be made, but we haven't seen that yet from the CEO or senior management. And again, um here we are ha seeing the union still demanding a two to three percent pay rise um with no accountability. Um and yeah, and again, I just think at the moment when you're effectively insolvent, all bets are off and everything needs to be looked at a lot harder, Jamie. And again, I know a lot of the the expectations from the have come from the Crown around you know, climate mitigation, social good, connected communities, but you can talk about connected communities, but the real reality is we can't even afford to connect our basic water infrastructure, Jamie. So it's back to basics.