Its Friday Faceoff, this week Nick is joined in the studio by Director of NZ Infrastructure Commission and former Wellington City Councillor Tim Brown and Raygun co-founder and CEO JD Trask to discuss the hot topics of the week. 

Starting with Super. The OECD has released a report that yet again tells NZ we need to make changes to the pension. Brown and Trask talk the age of super annuation, means testing, KiwiSaver. The panel dive into the argument to have the super indexed by life expectancy.

Them onto amalgamation - have the councils had their priorities wrong the whole time? Would be able to compete with Auckland and Christchurch is we became more efficient and banded together? The panel look at the pros and struggles of bringing four Wellington basin cities together in three months.

Next up - who is running the Wellington City Council - is it the officials or the council? The panel discuss the news of the personal grievance payout allowance - where the senior management made a decision behind the back of elected officials. 

They look at the leadership system and the CEO - is it actually democratic? Who is in charge?

Then water meter charges - Brown says it should only cost around $80 million, not the $590 million estimated by Tiaki Wai.

The panel discuss the charges, how it would work and how they think it should be done. And reminisce over the past cost blow outs that have hit the city. 

And onto our panel's thoughts on Dr Eziekel Emanuel's comments on the lack of funding and updated technology compared to other countries.

They look into the gradual increase of AI and robotics in our health system.

Plus Brown and Trask give their hots and nots.

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