Jeff Dickie: Stadium rates burden

Copy received [click to enlarge]

ODT 15.3.14 Letter to the editor (page 34)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Ngai Tahu featured in Wall Street Journal (12.3.14)

### ODT Online Mon, 17 Mar 2014
Ngai Tahu’s financial acumen praised
By Hamish McNeilly
The economic foresight of Ngai Tahu has won the praise of the influential Wall St Journal. The article, published last week, noted the iwi had gone from being ”impoverished, virtually landless” to one of New Zealand’s wealthiest tribes with group assets totalling $1.03 billion. Following the $170 million treaty settlement the iwi took part in a series of ”astute investments”, enabling it to restore marae and support health and education programmes for its 50,000 members.
Read more

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Source:
New Zealand Tribe’s Bet Transforms Its Fortunes: The Ngāi Tahu See Their Investments Pay Off
Original article published by The Wall Street Journal; March 12, 2014
online.wsj.com – this is a paysite. You can read the whole article by Lucy Cramer of WSJ for free at USNZcouncil.org

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“If you look at 15 years since settlement, this entity has done really well,” said Trevor Burt, a former executive board member of German chemicals giant Linde Group who the tribe tapped four years ago to run its investment arm. Over the past four years, the fund’s average total annual return, based on comprehensive income, was 14 per cent, beating the average 12.9 per cent annual return by the benchmark share index. –Lucy Craymer, WSJ
New Zealand tribe’s bet transforms its fortunes – posted by david at the United States New Zealand Council blogsite
March 12, 2014 Link

While you squabble, Ngai Tahu is worth more than a billion dollars, is making hundreds of millions of dollars in well placed investments, and is even outperforming well known philanthropic funds like the ones owned by Yale and Harvard. –Cameron Slater, Whale Oil Beef Hooked
Wall Street Journal praises tribe: Are you watching up north?
March 13, 2014 at 5:30pm Link

Twitter accounts:
Ngai Tahu @NgaiTahu
Wall Street Journal @WSJ

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ORFU: Black-tie dinner on ratepayers

Correspondence received.
Monday, 17 March 2014 9:28 a.m.

From: Bev Butler
To: Steve Tew [NZRU]; Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]; Rebecca Fox [ODT]; Murray Kirkness [ODT]; Ian Telfer [RNZ]
Subject: FW: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 09:26:55 +1300

Monday 17th March 2014

Dear Steve

It is a while since we corresponded and Doug [Harvie] has indicated he doesn’t intend to respond any further (always best to keep the lines of communication open when in a leadership role) so thought I would let you in on the current situation of the ORFU.
Please read from the bottom up and then read the rest of this email.

Either Doug doesn’t fully appreciate the situation or is just hoping the issue will go away.
Let me explain the situation from a different perspective so that both you and Doug may have a deeper understanding of the full implications.

Let’s say that you and Doug decide to borrow a considerable amount of money to build a new restaurant with a state of the art glass roof. Absolutely stunning – is going to be just wonderful for me to conduct my business dealings there. Just days after your restaurant opens I come along and make a booking for 350 guests. Unfortunately, my business hasn’t been going that well so am using your new restaurant to have a fund-raising dinner. I employ one of my close friends, Elly-May, to organise the dinner for my business. She sells tickets for this dinner for $250 each. Now 350 guests at $250 each is $87,500. You charge me about $75 per guest – a total of about $26,000. Now after the event I pay my close friend Elly-May about $10,000 and have a few other expenses which leave me with a ‘profit’ of $52,000. BUT instead of paying you the $26,000 I put the lot in my ‘pot’ and cry that I’m poor. You and Doug were such wonderful hosts, our guests were well fed, plenty of booze and cleaned up after us. Thanks for that.

One of your colleagues gets a bit shirty and accuses me of being dishonest. How dare him [sic]. I just wanted to spend the money on something else – I had other bills to pay even though my 350 guests were under the impression they were paying for the night out I just wanted to use the money for something else. Done it before – ask Jeremy Curragh. Well. I have some very important friends, you know. So I get them to sue him for defamation. Felt good when your colleague had to apologise.

Do you really think I have acted honestly and with integrity?

Now do you understand why the Dunedin ratepayers are still angry about this?
I am still being approached by people (as recently as yesterday – some of them rugby coaches) upset by the ORFU’s actions.

I suggest you two have a chat and do the right thing and pay this bill now that the ORFU have announced a ‘profit’ for the year. Someone needs to show some leadership over this. The Dunedin community deserve better. Personally I believe you have a moral obligation to pay this bill and set this wrong right. It is but a small gesture for the many indiscretions perpetrated by the ORFU on the Dunedin community.
Some people in the Dunedin community think that the ORFU are rotten to the core but I don’t actually agree with them. I am an optimist at heart and believe that there is human decency in everyone. In the ORFU’s case it just requires a bit of deeper prodding.

The ORFU have a moral obligation to show some human decency and pay this bill. It is a matter of principle. I will not be silenced on this. You have my word on that.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

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From: Bev Butler
To: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: RE: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 09:43:19 +1300

Dear Doug

Saying that “ALL creditors have been satisfied in full, in one way or another” is not the same as saying that all creditors have been PAID in full.
I know it is uncomfortable for you to be reminded of this but it still does not excuse the ORFU from doing the decent thing and paying their obscene black-tie dinner given they already had the money but decided to pocket it instead.
How about showing some decency or goodwill towards those that bailed you out of your financial mess now that you are flush with $406,859 profit?

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

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From: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: RE: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:16:32 +0000 [sic]

You have your facts wrong Bev – ALL creditors of ORFU have been satisfied in full, in one way or another.

I will not be responding to any further correspondence on this matter.

D J Harvie

Partner
Harvie Green Wyatt

(P O Box 5740, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand. Phone +64 3 4775005 or +64 21 2234169. Fax +64 3 4775447

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From: Bev Butler
Sent: Friday, 14 March 2014 7:32 a.m.
To: Doug Harvie [ORFU]
Cc: Steve Hepburn [ODT]
Subject: ORFU board responsible for paying the black tie dinner bill

Friday 14th March 2014

Dear Doug

In today’s ODT the ORFU have reported a profit of $406,859 for the 2013 financial year and a profit of $134,656 for the 2012 financial year. Part of this so called profit is just pocketing of monies from unpaid bills.

As you are fully aware, the ORFU ran up a DVML bill of $25,352 for their black tie fund raiser at the stadium on 5th August 2011. This was for food, booze, soft drinks and cleaning.

Not only did the ORFU run off without paying this bill but the ORFU paid no venue hire for this brand new venue. Then to top it off the ORFU pocketed $52,000 from this fundraising event into their ‘pot’ which then is reported as profit for the 2012 financial year.

The fact that the ORFU then pressurised the Council to ‘write it off’ does not excuse the ORFU from the moral obligation to pay this bill.

I was quoted in the ODT as saying this was ‘obscene’. It is like booking a large restaurant, gorging yourselves on all their food and drink and hospitality then doing a runner.

It is ‘obscene’ and I expect this bill to be paid in full.

Laurie Mains, and his wife, Anne-Marie, refused to answer questions as to whether Anne-Marie was paid for her services in organising this event. I actually have no problem with her charging for her professional services. What I do have a problem with is that it is standard practice for professional event organisers to ensure all outstanding bills are paid before the ‘surplus’ is paid to the organisation. This did not happen. I don’t know whether Anne-Marie was paid $10,000, $12,000 or even more but whatever the amount the issue is that the other bills should have been paid first.

I fully expect this bill to be paid as the ORFU did actually have sufficient funds to pay this bill as evidenced by the reported profit of $134,656 for the 2012 financial year.

I also remind you that the $350 guests to this black-tie dinner paid $250 per ticket which would have been paid with the understanding that this would cover the costs. When a function such as this is organised, the ticket price is to cover the costs of the meal, venue hire, cleaning etc. Once the bills are paid, then any surplus is genuine ‘profit’ and the organisation then can legally pocket this ‘profit’.

The fact that the ORFU pocketed this money instead of paying their bill is unacceptable.

It is time the ORFU did the decent thing and pay this bill.

Yours sincerely

Bev Butler

[ends]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr