DCC fails to meet LGOIMA request re ‘lost’ secure storage of CST files

The Dunedin City Council OWNS the Carisbrook Stadium Trust files, note.

Received from Bev Butler
Mon, 8 May 2017 at 1:40 p.m.

Subject: Complaint Dunedin City Council/storage of stadium documents

Message: Attached is the letter from the Ombudsman Office. I have sent a response to the Ombudsman letter.

[screenshot – click to enlarge]

● Download: 0_1-408161-3117439

—

Related Posts and Comments:
2.6.16 Official Information at Dunedin City : Bev Butler maintains pressure
10.7.15 Ombudsman complaint re DCC reply to LGOIMA requests #CSTfiles
9.7.15 DCC: Council-owned CST files whereabouts not declared
27.6.15 Ratepayer boxes #saga
20.6.15 DCC / CST document scramble #LGOIMA

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Hamilton Mayor has it right —DCC has lost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars

The misuse of public funds at Dunedin is far from being over……

Received Sun, 8 Jan 2017 at 5:21 p.m.

Questions mount over Hamilton City Council’s commercial nous. By comparison, how does Dunedin City Council stack up ?

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 12:03, Jan 6 2017
Business: Property
Hamilton City Council urged to stay away from property ‘gambling’
By Aaron Leaman
….Hamilton Mayor Andrew King said the city council has a poor record when it comes to commercial property deals. And he doesn’t want any more ratepayer money risked on commercial developments. Records obtained under the Official Information Act show the Hamilton City Council has taken a multimillion-dollar hit on a raft of property deals dating back to the mid-1990s. The council incurred heavy losses after selling properties at well below their purchase price.
….In 2017, city councillors will consider restoring the council’s property development company, Hamilton Properties Ltd, after an almost 20-year hiatus. Last term, the council voted to transfer the city’s municipal and domain endowment funds, valued about $52 million, to the council-controlled organisation. The decision can be overturned by the new council. Hamilton Properties Ltd was set up in 1989 and retired in 1998 after developing a host of commercial and community sites, including the BNZ building and Novotel Hamilton Tainui in the central city.
….King said the council should enable developers and investors to risk their money to build Hamilton. “We’ve got $50 million sitting in these funds and I think the proposal to give it to Hamilton Properties Ltd is very, very scary, in my opinion,” King said. “It’s not our job as councillors to risk ratepayers’ money and go into competition against others. The record clearly shows that we are way out of our depth. We’re not specialists in this field and anything council does seems to cost twice as much as what the specialists in the field can do it for.” King’s views, however, are at odds with senior council staff, who have defended the city’s investment nous.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC: LGOIMA requests for the last month

Received from Lee Vandervis
‎Tue‎, ‎21‎ ‎Jul‎ ‎2015 ‎at 8‎:‎24‎ ‎p.m.

[screenshot — click to enlarge]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Jeff Dickie: Edinburgh tough, Dunedin (DUD)

Further to the contents of an email from Jeff Dickie last month, who was writing from a hotel on Orchard Road at the time:

Supplied. ODT 13.7.15 (page 6)

****

INVOICE FRAUD AND MORE

TWO corrupt council officials and two businessmen who supplied them with cash and hospitality have been jailed with a warning they face “significant” sentences.

### HeraldScotland.com Wednesday 17 June 2015
Corrupt Edinburgh council officials face lengthy jail term
[…] Former local authority employees Charles Owenson and James Costello were treated to dances and drinks in lap dancing bars as valuable Edinburgh City Council contracts were secured through bribery. Ex-directors of Action Building Contracts Ltd (ABC Ltd) Kevin Balmer and Brendan Cantwell provided the rewards over the allocation of work for public buildings including schools, care homes and cemeteries.
Following their earlier guilty pleas a sheriff told them that he would continue their case until tomorrow for sentencing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to consider the information he had been given. But Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC told the four men: “Having regard to the gravity of the offences, it is clear to me the sentences will require to be custodial and require to be significant.” He remanded all of them in jail ahead of sentencing.
Owenson and Costello were provided with hospitality, including corporate seats at Hibs and Hearts football grounds and meals out as well as cash, by Edinburgh-based construction firm ABC Ltd (Action Building Contracts). The contractors even submitted inflated invoices to the local authority for work carried out to cover the costs of the bribes they were paying council officials. Fiscal Keith O’Mahony earlier told the court: “In essence, the council was being charged for the cost of bribing its own officials.”
[…] Police began carrying out enquiries in 2010 as a result of complaints about the statutory notices system and were later informed that senior management had received “a whistleblower letter” alleging that Owenson was showing favouritism when allocating work to contractors. The Crown has raised proceedings to recover crime profits in the case.
Read more

█ 18.6.15 BBC News: Four jailed over Edinburgh City Council bribes

—

Shades of the ‘Screaming Orgasm cocktails’ saga following Dunedin City Council’s decision to build the stadium. That evening, the board members of Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust went out to celebrate, booking their drinks at Alibi Bar & Restaurant to the Ratepayers.
Of course, there have been masses of local big-ticket ‘corruptions’: the stadium land purchases (including for realignment of SH88); the Carisbrook ‘deal’ with Otago Rugby Football Union, and further ‘Otago Rugby’ deals with Dunedin Venues (DVML); the Delta subdivisions and service contracts (Jacks Point and Luggate, and more recently Noble Village); the unravelling Citifleet fraud and insurance scam (substantially greater than 152 fleet vehicles lost off the inventory, allied to ‘traffic’ in car parts, tyres, service contracts, and fluid cash); the Dunedin Town Hall Redevelopment Project (via City Property) yet to be fully detailed; and field lights for Otago Cricket Association…….. et al.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Ombudsman complaint re DCC reply to LGOIMA requests #CSTfiles

Received from Bev Butler
Fri, 10 Jul 2015 at 11:25 a.m.

—

From: Bev Butler
To: complaint @ ombudsmen.parliament.nz
Subject: Ombudsman complaint: Whereabouts of secure storage facility?
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2015 11:19:53 +1200

{Address and phone number removed. -Eds}

Friday 10 July 2015

Dear Sir/Madam

I wish to make a complaint about the Dunedin City Council’s reply to a recent LGOIMA request (copied below) where I ask the whereabouts of the secure storage facility and the date the DCC/CST documents were placed in the facility.
Please also refer to my email to Ombudsman Office dated 15 June 2015 where I express concern as to the safety of the DCC/CST documents.

In the DCC response it states:

“The location of the secure storage facility is withheld pursuant to s7(2)(b)(ii) of LGOIMA to avoid prejudicing the commercial position of the person who is subject of the information.”
This is not a valid reason to refuse the request because s7(2)(b)(ii) only provides protection for “the person who supplied or who is the subject of the information”. This could be a valid reason to refuse to provide some of the documents, but not a valid reason to refuse to provide the location of the documents.

The other reason for refusing to provide the location was: “pursuant to s7(2)(f)(ii) of LGOIMA to enable the effective conduct of public affairs by protecting officers and persons from improper pressure or harassment.”
This is invalid because there are no public affairs being conducted that would be affected by revealing the location of the documents. More importantly, this only applies to “members or officers or employees of any local authority”. Revealing where the documents are, will not create any “improper pressure or harassment” on Council staff or Carisbrook Stadium Trust (CST) members.

The DCC in their response to the date the documents were stored in the secure storage facility state:
“The CST are unable to confirm when the documents were shifted to the storage facility. The person who can confirm this is now resident in Australia. Attempts were made to contact her but she is hospitalised, recovering from a serious illness and was unable to provide the information. Your request is therefore technically declined pursuant to s17(g) of LGOIMA as the information requested is not held.”
The DCC confirmed this morning that the documents were moved with permission of the CST. Therefore, if the documents were moved with the permission of the CST then section 2(6) of LGOIMA applies because the CST are subject to LGOIMA given their special agency agreement with the DCC.

I request the Ombudsman Office investigate the above.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

█ {See previous post for chain of correspondence up to and including Ms Graham’s reply at Thu, 9 Jul 2015 21:42:53 +0000, provided in full with Ms Butler’s complaint to the Ombudsman. -Eds}

—

Related Posts and Comments:
9.7.15 DCC: Council-owned CST files whereabouts not declared
27.6.15 Ratepayer boxes #saga
20.6.15 DCC / CST document scramble #LGOIMA

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC: Council-owned CST files whereabouts not declared

Updated post Fri, 10 Jul 2015 at 1:22 p.m.

Received from Bev Butler
Thu, 9 Jul 2015 at 12:32 p.m.

—

From: Bev Butler
Sent: Wednesday, 1 July 2015 1:46 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]; Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: LGOIMA Request: Whereabouts of secure storage facility?

Wednesday 1 July 2015

Dear Sandy and Grace

It was recently stated in the media that the DCC/CST documents were stored in a “secure storage facility”.
Also on Monday 29 June 2015, the CST stated:
“The CST advise that there is no charge for the storage and as such, there is no invoice.”

I request the location where these documents were stored, the type of “secure storage facility” and on what date the documents were taken to the secure storage facility.

Thank you.
Kind Regards
Bev

—

From: Sandy Graham [DCC]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA Request: Whereabouts of secure storage facility?
Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2015 22:14:28 +0000

Dear Bev

I refer for your request for information about the CST secure storage facility where you asked the following questions:.
Where are the documents stored?
What type of secure storage facility it is?
What date were the documents taken to the facility?

I provide answers to these questions as follows:

The location of the secure storage facility is withheld pursuant to s7(2)(b)(ii) of LGOIMA to avoid prejudicing the commercial position of the person who is subject of the information and pursuant to s7(2)(f)(ii) of LGOIMA to enable the effective conduct of public affairs by protecting officers and persons from improper pressure or harassment.

The facility is a commercial storage facility. I have already advised that it is not EziStor. Any further details that may identify the facility are however withheld pursuant to s7(2)(b)(ii) of LGOIMA to avoid prejudicing the commercial position of the person who is subject of the information and pursuant to s7(2)(f)(ii) of LGOIMA to enable the effective conduct of public affairs by protecting officers and persons from improper pressure or harassment.

The CST are unable to confirm when the documents were shifted to the storage facility. The person who can confirm this is now resident in Australia. Attempts were made to contact her but she is hospitalised, recovering from a serious illness and was unable to provide the information. Your request is therefore technically declined pursuant to s17(g) of LGOIMA as the information requested is not held.

As we have withheld information you are entitled to a review of our decisions by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Regards
Sandy

—

From: Bev Butler
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]
CC: Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA Request: Whereabouts of secure storage facility?/Clarification
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 14:15:33 +1200

Dear Sandy and Grace

Appreciate clarification before contacting Ombudsman.
In the response it states:
“The CST are unable to confirm when the documents were shifted to the storage facility. The person who can confirm this is now resident in Australia.”
Given the statement above which implies that there is only one person in the world who knows when the documents were moved, is it correct to assume the documents were moved by the “sick lady” without the permission of the CST?
Is it also correct to assume the documents were placed in the secure storage facility without the knowledge of the secure storage facility’s owner, given the “sick lady” in Australia is the only person who knows when the documents were stored there?

Kind Regards
Bev

—

From: Sandy Graham [DCC]
To: Bev Butler
CC: Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: RE: LGOIMA Request: Whereabouts of secure storage facility?/Clarification
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2015 21:42:53 +0000

Dear Bev

Your assumptions are incorrect.

Regards
Sandy

—

Related Posts and Comments:
27.6.15 Ratepayer boxes #saga
20.6.15 DCC / CST document scramble #LGOIMA

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS)

Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Tell Us What You Think!

This item was published on 23 Jun 2015

Letters have been sent this week to 4500 Dunedin residents inviting them to take part in the Dunedin City Council’s annual Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS).

DCC General Manager Services and Development Simon Pickford says, “The ROS provides valuable feedback on what Dunedin residents think of their Council and the services and facilities we provide. It is particularly useful as it allows us to hear from the ‘silent majority’ of residents who are less likely to tell us what they think in other ways, such as the Long Term Plan consultation.”

The 4500 residents, randomly selected from the electoral roll, will be invited to complete the ROS online using a unique code. A hard copy questionnaire will be provided on request.

The survey is also open to other residents, who can fill out the survey at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros.

Everyone who provides feedback will have the opportunity to enter a draw to win one of five $100 supermarket vouchers.

The survey is open until 17 July 2015. A reminder letter will be sent to those who have not responded about two weeks after the initial letter. This practice has proved successful in increasing the response rate. The survey results are expected to be publicly available by late August.

Mr Pickford says, “We have been using this survey for more than 20 years and it has become a key tool for us to assess how well we are doing and ultimately guide our planning and decision making. ROS focuses on how well we deliver our services and asks questions about residents’ perceptions of our performance. Some of the results are used as official measures of the DCC’s performance for audit purposes. But equally importantly, the feedback is used by staff and the Council to guide our thinking about how we might best deliver services to better meet the needs of Dunedin residents.”

The survey, which costs about $40,000, will be undertaken by independent research company Versus Research.

The results of previous surveys can be viewed at http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/ros.

Contact Simon Pickford, General Manager Services and Development on 03 474 3707.

DCC Link

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

DCC / Carisbrook Stadium Trust document scramble #LGOIMA

Received from Bev Butler
Fri, 19 June 2015 at 9:13 a.m.

—

From: Bev Butler
To: Lee Vandervis, Dave Cull, David Benson-Pope, Hilary Calvert, John Bezett, Doug Hall, Aaron Hawkins, Mike Lord, Jinty MacTavish, Andrew Noone, Neville Peat, Chris Staynes, Richard Thomson, Andrew Whiley, Kate Wilson
Subject: Mayor and Councillors/Security of DCC/CST stadium documents
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2015 08:50:20 +1200

Friday 19 June 2015
 
Dear Mayor Cull and Councillors
 
During my recent DCC Annual Plan submission I requested a full forensic audit of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust (CST). You will recall that preliminary informal investigations found that documentation has been withheld. The CST and the previous CEO of the DCC both attempted via undisclosed legal opinions to ensure that this documentation remained hidden from any investigation or even LGOIMA requests and it is now more than clear that the CST, as an agent of the DCC, have no right to retain ANY documentation that relates to the entire period which the CST were in any way acting as an agent of the DCC. The CST appears to have no other function than continuing to receive donations from private persons as part of the private sector funding so, given that, I do not believe ANY documentation should be withheld from the DCC.
 
Since my public call for a full forensic investigation I have been greatly concerned about the security of the DCC/CST documents all of which were financed with ratepayer money.
 
It has now been revealed that the Chair of CST, Mr Malcolm Farry has removed most of the documents from the stadium and dumped them in a container. By doing so I believe that he has demonstrated a desire to thwart any investigation into any inappropriate spending of ratepayers money which could be revealed by a forensic audit, but he has also on the face of it, essentially misappropriated the documentation which has been, and remains, the property of the DCC.
 
On Monday 15 June 2015 I also contacted the Office of the Ombudsman expressing my concern over the security of the documents.
A representative of the Ombudsman Office then rang the DCC Governance Manager on Monday afternoon.
 
As elected representatives I believe you should be made aware of the situation.
 
Below is an urgent LGOIMA request I submitted on Tuesday 16 June 2015 followed by an acknowledgement of the request.
Further down the page is the earlier correspondence I had with the DCC CEO requesting the documents be secured.
 
Kind Regards
Bev Butler

—
 
From: Bev Butler
To: Grace Ockwell [DCC], Sandy Graham [DCC]
CC: Sue Bidrose [DCC]
Subject: URGENT LGOIMA Request: Security of DCC/CST stadium documents
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 09:17:33 +1200

Tuesday 16 June 2015
 
Dear Sandy and Grace
 
Given the following:
1. Changes to LGOIMA recently came into force on 26 March 2015.
In light of these changes, and especially the changes to s2(6) which unequivocally states that a local authority will be deemed to hold any information held by an independent contractor in its capacity as contractor.
2. Under section 3 of Schedule 5 of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the CST and DCC it states:
“All files, records and other information held by CST and DVML will be held at the offices of DVML and made available to CST and DVML Board members and staff as required.”
3. DCC Governance staff were told by the Chair of CST, Mr Malcolm Farry, that ALL the DCC/CST stadium documents were in a locked room at DVML offices as per the SLA and only Malcolm Farry and his secretary had keys to the locked room. 
4. Recently it has transpired that MOST of the documents are not in the DVML offices.
5. Most of the documents are now in a container.
 
Therefore, given the LGOIMA legislation, the contract between DCC and CST and other information above, I request the following:
1. On what date were the DCC/CST documents removed from the DVML offices?
2. Apart from Malcolm Farry, who else was involved in the removal of the documents?
3. Which other CST trustees were aware of the removal of the documents?
4. Where exactly is the container located?
5. How are the documents stored in this container? Are they in cardboard boxes, supermarket bags, filing cabinets or thrown in piles or some other storage method?
6. Will the DCC report this removal of local government documents to the Police given this was done without DCC permission?
7. Will the DCC now seize these documents as is their legal right under the SLA?
8. The name of the law firm and lawyer who has been providing legal advice to the DCC over the security of the DCC/CST stadium documents?
 
Given the seriousness of this situation, I am requesting that this request be treated with urgency.
 
Kind Regards
Bev

—
 
From: Sandy Graham
To: Bev Butler
CC: Sue Bidrose, Grace Ockwell
Subject: RE: URGENT LGOIMA Request: Security of DCC/CST stadium documents
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 02:00:11 +0000

Dear Bev
 
Thank you for your request below. I note that you have requested urgency and we will consider this request. If we decide that we will not progress the request urgently, you will receive a response as soon as practicable or within twenty working days.
 
I do wish to formally advise that I have sighted the CST files and after conversations with the CST have no concerns about their security. I note your reference to the provisions of the Deed between the CST and the DCC and will work to give effect to that with the CST over coming days.
 
Regards
Sandy

—

From: Bev Butler
To: Sandy Graham
CC: Sue Bidrose, Grace Ockwell
Subject: RE: URGENT LGOIMA Request: Security of DCC/CST stadium documents
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 14:30:55 +1200

Dear Sandy
 
Thank you for your email.
Do the CST still have access to these documents?
 
Kind Regards
Bev

—

From: Bev Butler
Sent: Tuesday, 16 June 2015 3:47:51 p.m.
To: Sandy Graham
Cc: Sue Bidrose, Grace Ockwell

Dear Sandy
 
Further to your email below where you state:
“I note your reference to the provisions of the Deed between the CST and the DCC and will work to give effect to that with the CST over coming days.”
Can I assume that the DCC will be taking control of the documents by the end of the week as per SLA?
 
Kind Regards
Bev

—
  
From: Bev Butler
Sent: 24 May 2015 4:16 p.m.
To: Sue Bidrose
Subject: Security of stadium documents
Importance: High
 
Sunday 24 May 2015
 
Dear Dr Bidrose
 
I wish to formally request that the DCC secure the CST stadium documents.
Some time ago, I was made aware of a threat by Mr Malcolm Farry, Chair of CST, to remove the documents from the locked stadium room.
I think it is essential to ensure the security of these documents.
 
Given Mr Farry’s ongoing refusal to release information even with the recent change in legislation to LGOIMA and given the false statements and the malicious attack on me which he made on the front page of the ODT on Friday 22 May 2015 I believe it may be necessary to: 
(a) change the locks as I understand Mr Farry has the only key;
(b) secure any external window(s) from possible break-in or access to damage the documents.
(c) ensure Mr Farry is escorted by a security guard at all times whilst in the document room if he does now decide to co-operate.
 
Yours sincerely
Bev Butler
 
PS I think it fair to inform you I will be making this request public in a few days time.

—
 
From: Sue Bidrose
To: Bev Butler
Subject: RE: Security of stadium documents
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 03:38:28 +0000

Hi Bev
 
Thanks for the conversation. To just put it in writing, I have had discussions with the CST representative and we are working together to ensure DCC has full access to CST documents pertaining to the stadium build. Most of the documents are not at the stadium and therefore ‘locking the door’ would not only be likely to provoke legal retaliation, it would be counterproductive in our working together to ensure DCC has the documents that we are legally required to have.
 
Kind regards
 
Sue

—
 
From: Bev Butler
To: Sue Bidrose
Subject: RE: Security of stadium documents
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 17:22:51 +1200

Hi Sue
 
Thanks for the email.
fyi
On reading the Service Level Agreement today on page 20 it states under Schedule 5 – Resources/Administration
3. All files, records and other information held by CST and DVML will be held at the offices of DVML and made available to CST and DVML Board members and staff as required.
 
Kind regards
Bev

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Please Mayor Daaave, to pasture NOW

Better that than the knackers yard —we have some notion of human rights! But let’s get rid to back paddock. Some natural justice.

Daaave’s opinion piece in today’s ODT is crippling, rustling with financial ineptitudes, and no clothes.

Sadly, his gratuitous fiction is simply No Match for the lavish, colourfully illustrated ODT love fest with Councillor Lee Vandervis, shown up in the Mix magazine spread on Saturday.

The small town of Dunedin was last murderously accosted by Malcolm Farry and Thugby. Here is yet another short man taking the Citizenry OUT: Mr Death Cull.

No-one seriously believes Daaave’s askew bleats given the state of DCC finances. The debt graph following the council’s recent Long Term Plan decisions should be quickly redrawn by independent honest people, and widely publicised.

Oh dear. Oh dear. Soon there will be no-one left capable of paying the rates, or shrinking council debt. Autumn has passed, along with the last fig leaf.

OPINION
Investing in our city necessary to attract the people we require
Dunedin must invest or wither, writes Mayor Daaave Cull. Dunedin’s aspiration is to be one of the world’s great small cities.
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/344498/investing-our-city-necessary-attract-people-we-require

photonz at ODT gives a very fair summation. The tight echo from all round.

—

Before final LTP decisions in May 2015

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Tomorrow’s newspaper —Cull on CST

via 39 Dunedin News

Murray Kirkness says tomorrow’s ODT looks at Mayor Cull’s concerns about Carisbrook Stadium Trust.

****

[distraction][bodies, dance moves if bad prevails, how….]

“Just think while you’ve been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world, You could’ve been getting down to this sick beat.”

TaylorSwiftVEVO Published on Aug 18, 2014
Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
Video: Taylor Swift performing Shake It Off. (C) 2014 Big Machine Records, LLC. “Shake It Off” features on Taylor’s album 1989.
Music: “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift (Google Play • iTunes)

[seriously, crime fighting]

Published on May 17, 2015 TaylorSwiftVEVO
Taylor Swift – Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar
Video: Taylor Swift performing Bad Blood. (C) 2015 Big Machine Records, LLC. “Bad Blood” from Taylor’s multi-platinum release 1989.

Taylor Swift as Catastrophe – Selena Gomez as Arsyn
Karlie Kloss as Knockout – Kendrick Lamar as Welvin Da Great
Martha Hunt as HomeSlice – Jessica Alba as Domino
Serayah as Dilemma – Lena Dunham as Lucky Fiori
Hailee Steinfeld as The Trinity – Ellie Goulding as Destructa X
GiGi Hadid as Slay-Z – Hayley Williams as The Crimson Curse
Zendaya as Cut-Throat – Lily Aldridge as Frostbyte
Ellen Pompeo as Luna – Mariska Hargitay as Justice
Cara Delevingne as Mother Chucker – Cindy Crawford as Headmistress

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Blue/Yellow Pompoms ft. in Shake It Off provided by Dunedin City Council.

Stadium costs +$20M per annum, against one Fleetwood Mac concert….

THIS DOESN’T SINK NEWS OF LATEST DELTA FINANCIAL BLOWOUT – NOBLE VILLAGE SUBDIVISION

I experienced Fleetwood Mac at Western Springs, Auckland in the 1980s, there is no way I want to see them live now in a crap-for-sound covered stadium at Dunedin. This cat has already eaten the cream. I might see them at Mt Smart, however.

How much has DCC/DVML paid to the promoter to get the band here?
They’ve spent $350,000 on tired roller Rod Stewart, who has yet to perform.

—

### ODT Online Fri, 20 Mar 2015
Fleetwood Mac to play Stadium
By Chris Morris
The rumours are true — Fleetwood Mac is coming to Dunedin. It was confirmed yesterday the group, one of the world’s best-selling bands, will perform its only South Island show at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Wednesday, November 18. Tickets costing between $100 and $300 plus fees will go on public sale from 10am on April 1, and a bumper crowd is predicted to pump millions of dollars into Dunedin’s economy. The British-American group’s Dunedin show will feature all five original band members, with Christine McVie having reunited with Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
Read more

CroNix99 Uploaded on May 26, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – The Dance -1997 – Gypsy

CroNix99 Uploaded on Jul 2, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon – The Dance -1997

CroNix99 Uploaded on May 27, 2010
Fleetwood Mac – Landslide – 2004
Live In Boston – Say You Will Tour

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Fleetwood Mac – Christine McVie rejoining Fleetwood Mac 12.1.14 [pitchfork.com]

Malcolm Farry, revisited at Nine to Noon (December 2008)

WARM FUZZIES

### radionz.co.nz Friday, 12 Dec 2008
Radio NZ National
Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan

Carisbrook Stadium in trouble (Link)
09:30 Malcolm Farry, Chairman Carisbrook Stadium Trust; and Jeff Dickie, property investor and outspoken critic of the stadium.
Audio | Download: Ogg  MP3 ( 13′ 15″ )

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Malcolm Farry tweaked by whatifdunedin

Stadium: Online petition to pressure $1M donation

Prior to the Christmas break, using old Stop The Stadium Inc mailing lists* (the organisation is legally defunct), local woman Bev Butler distributed links to a public report and petition on suspected non-payment of a one million dollar donation that was heralded to underpin DCC/CST commencement of stadium construction at Dunedin—a donation promised by Queenstown philanthropist Eion Edgar.

The petition is headed ‘Sir Eion Edgar: Please pay the $1,000,000 donation as promised for the benefit of all Dunedin ratepayers’.

The report indicates non-payment may see complaints to the UK-based Honours Forfeiture Committee.

—

Related Posts and Comments:
9.5.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submission by Bev Butler
10.4.14 Stadium: Edgar’s $1m donation (private sector fundraising)
2.2.14 Stadium: ODT editorial (1.2.14) —Garbutt debunks myths
30.7.13 Stadium: Accountability, paper trail leads unavoidably to NEWS
18.7.13 ODT won’t touch Fairfax story
10.7.13 Stadium: Edgar will honour $1M personal pledge to project
3.7.13 [Pulled!] Call for Dunedin stadium cash
24.12.12 A Christmas Tale
7.6.12 Stadium: Forsyth Barr naming rights
8.1.11 ‘Civis’, the columnist . . .
22.2.10 Eion Edgar predicts
6.7.09 Eion Edgar on ‘stadium haters’

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Disclaimer: This post, ‘Stadium: Online petition to pressure $1M donation’, does not constitute or imply an endorsement or recommendation of any kind by Elizabeth Kerr and the parties to What if? Dunedin.

*The Privacy Act 1993 controls how ‘agencies’ collect, use, disclose, store and give access to ‘personal information’. The privacy Codes of Practice do the same, but they apply to specific areas – particularly health, telecommunications and credit reporting.
Personal information is information about identifiable, living people.
Almost every person or organisation that holds personal information is an ‘agency’. So, for example, the Privacy Act covers government departments, companies of all sizes, religious groups, schools and clubs.

—

Stadium Editorial Support strategy —ODT

Received from Bev Butler
Mon, 1 Dec 2014 at 6:48 p.m.

Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2014 15:31:04 +1300
From: Cushla Turner [ODT]
To: Bev Butler
Subject: Re: Letter to editor

Dear Bev,

Thank you for your letter to the editor received recently. The contents have been noted. However, it was not selected for publication.

Kind regards,
Cushla Turner
Editor’s Secretary
Otago Daily Times

______________________________________

On 29/11/2014 2:29 PM, Bev Butler wrote:

[address removed]
Saturday 29 November 2014
Dear Editor
In response to Dennis Dorney’s letter to editor (29.11.14), the editor states: “Saying the stadium was oversold to ratepayers and opposing its building are not the same thing.” True.
The ODT has always supported the stadium.
In fact, the ODT even had a STADIUM EDITORIAL SUPPORT strategy in place long before the final decision for the stadium to proceed. Nick Smith can confirm this.
Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium Review: LGOIMA request and 2009 Town Hall speeches

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

Copy received from Bev Butler
Sun, 30 Nov at 12:17 p.m.

Message: A while back I was told there was Rugby pressure happening behind the scenes to exclude the mothballing option.
Cheers, Bev

From: Bev Butler
To: Sandy Graham [DCC]; Grace Ockwell [DCC]
Subject: LGOIMA REQUEST: Stadium Review/Mothballing
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 12:10:47 +1300

Sunday 30 November 2014

Dear Sandy and Grace

Earlier in the year it was announced that the stadium was to be reviewed and that all options would be considered, including mothballing.
Now with the recent release of the Stadium Review only two options are presented, namely, the status quo and the most extreme option of demolition.
1. Why were the options of sale and mothballing not reported on?
2. Did the Stadium Review committee look at the sale and mothballing options? If so, I request a copy of the findings. If not, why not?
3. Whose decision (names) was it to not include mothballing as an option?
4. Did the NZRU and/or ORFU have any input into the Review? If so, I request a copy of all documentation.
5. Who (names) from the NZRU/ORFU was consulted/involved in the Review?
6. Did any member of NZRU and/or ORFU influence/pressure/request that the mothballing option be removed/excluded from the Review? If so, who (names)?
7. Mayor Cull has publicly stated that the demolition option was included in the Review to show the “lunatic fringe” that demolition is not a realistic option.
a) Who (names) are the “lunatic fringe”?
b) If Mayor Cull is unable to name members of the “lunatic fringe” then why was the demolition option considered?
c) Why were the mothballing options not considered when well informed stadium critics had publicly called for this option? ie. Why was the extreme option from an unidentified “lunatic fringe” considered over the mothballing option proposed by identifiable well informed stadium critics, like myself, who have been proven correct in their predictions?
8. What part did Sir John Hansen play in stifling the mothballing option?
9. Will the mothballing options now be reviewed?

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

___________________________________

REFRESH
Speeches made to Stop The Stadium public meeting held at Dunedin Town Hall on 29 March 2009:

● Alistair Broad
● Dave Cull
● Gerry Eckhoff
● Michael Stedman
● Sukhi Turner

Speeches to Otago Regional Council (ORC) public forums for stadium:

● Public Forum Speech to ORC by Bev Butler 11.2.09 – stadium meeting
● Public Forum Speech to ORC by Bev Butler 3.3.09

___________________________________

On behalf of ratepayers and residents Dunedin City Council decided on and publicly listed ten conditions (10 lines in the sand) to be met for the stadium project. Unfortunately, this summary table shows the extent of departure!

Received from Bev Butler – Summary of Conditions
Sat, 29 Nov 2014 at 7.44 a.m.

[click to enlarge]

Recent Posts and Comments:
26.11.14 Cr Hilary Calvert, an embarrassment
22.11.14 ODT puffery for stadium rousing ?
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
15.11.14 Stadium #TotalFail

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Sport Otago’s Brimble and ORFU’s Kinley never give up —ugly paperwork exists boys !!

● The Trusts Charitable Foundation (TTCF Inc) ● The Trusts Community Foundation Ltd (TTCF Ltd) ● Otago Rugby Football Union (ORFU) ● Professional Rugby ● Centre of Excellence for Amateur Sport ● Harness Racing ● Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) ● Gambling Commission ● Pokies ● Rorts ● Organised Crime ● Serious Fraud ● Political Interference

### ODT Online Thu, 27 Nov 2014
Sport
Gambling: Gaming funds sport: Is the trade-off worth it?
By Adrian Seconi
Are sporting bodies turning a blind eye to problem gambling because of the estimated $120 million-$130 million gaming trusts provide each year? Reporter Adrian Seconi asks prominent administrators John Brimble and Richard Kinley their thoughts. It is an ethical minefield, but without the funding the gambling industry provides, many sporting organisations would collapse and sport would be out of reach for some families. Both Sport Otago chief executive John Brimble and Otago Rugby Football Union general manager Richard Kinley want to be very clear about that point.
Read more

█ TOMORROW: The TAB has its say.

****

“It’s going to be fun. The NZ Racing Board is a $2 billion business that plays a vital role in the New Zealand economy by supporting the racing and sports industries. It is also the owner and operator of the TAB which is an exciting commercial enterprise and iconic New Zealand brand.”–John Allen.

### NZ Herald Online 3:57 PM Wednesday Nov 26, 2014
Mfat chief executive John Allen moves to NZ Racing Board
–Herald Online / BusinessDesk
Foreign Affairs and Trade chief executive John Allen is resigning to take up the role of head of the NZ Racing Board. Mr Allen began as the Mfat head in in July 2009 and headed a controversial restructuring of the government department which was opposed by many staff and saw 49 ambassadors and heads of foreign missions co-sign a letter criticising the plan. […] Mr Allen’s departure was flagged by political newsletter Trans-Tasman, which said he planned to announce next Monday that he is leaving for a top post in the private sector.
This afternoon, the NZ Racing Board confirmed it had appointed Mr Allen as its new CEO.
Read more

For more, enter the terms *gambling*, *pokies*, *dia*, *rugby*, *racing* *rorts* *whistleblower*, *fraud*, *white collar crime* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ODT puffery for stadium rousing ?

The banner at today’s ODT Online home page

Received, a snapshot at 11:14 a.m. (to read the article get the latest budgie cage liner full of advertising with not much else EXCEPT an exclusive interview)

Oh Dear Times —
Sue Bidrose, ‘I’ve always said I just don’t want to work for someone who’s not as good as me’.

Alternative text, just an observation —
From King James Bible, Psalms 8:2, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength”.

Updated post 23.11.14 at 10:47 a.m.
● Read the interview (Sunday release) at ODT Online

—

The completely under-researched yet highly threshed and winnowed
Fubar Stadium Review released on Thursday 20 November will be tabled at Monday’s Extraordinary Council Meeting (Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers at 1:00 PM).

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

As to timing of review and puffery, coincidence?

ODT used the same new face the day before to sell the ‘Stadium in the black’ message (see Friday’s front page graphic)

—

Anything for tenure. The motorbike makes her one of the boys, and the girls. This popularity farce-triumph(ant) is costing ratepayers +$20million pa.

The newspaper can’t distract from an extremely inadequate Stadium Review by throwing us lines about a recreational biker’s “life, job and sleepless nights”. There’s a public excluded Chief Executive Appraisal and Appointment Committee meeting at the Mayor’s Office on Monday 8 December, 8:00 AM.

—

Related Post and Comments:
21.11.14 Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed
20.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium Review: Mayor Cull exposed

### radionz.co.nz Thursday 20 November 2014
Checkpoint with Mary Wilson
Dunedin Mayor: ‘Stadium is not a lemon’
A Dunedin City Council report has looked into demolishing the city’s covered rugby stadium built for 200 million dollars just three years ago.
Audio | Download: Ogg  MP3 (4:48)

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

● 15.3.11 Post: Cr Dave Cull speech to Town Hall Meeting [31.3.09]
● 27.4.09 Post: Contract signed

—

### stuff.co.nz Last updated 09:08 21/11/2014 | Southland Times
Stadium demolition option only for ‘lunatics’
By Wilma McKay
Dunedin’s mayor has said the city council only included an option to demolish the city’s stadium to shut down “a lunatic fringe”. In an interview with Mary Wilson from Radio New Zealand, Dunedin mayor Dave Cull said demolition was included in a review of stadium funding, ownership and operation “to put to bed the frequent and strident claims of a lunatic fringe”. Cull described the opposing group as “a small vociferous band of critics all the way along through this process who have said it would be much better to knock [the stadium] over”. “So, we said ‘okay, we’ll look at that option, we’ll cost it, and that should put it to bed once and for all’,” he said in the interview. As it turned out demolition proved unworkable economically, Cull said.
City councillors are to gather for an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss its recommendations out of the review, including one that ratepayers stump up $18.1 million extra over the next 10 years to keep the arena afloat.
Read more

● Stuff: Stadium under fire as city eyes next steps | Southland Times

****

### ODT Online Fri, 21 Nov 2014
Stadium review ‘kick in the guts for ratepayers’
By Chris Morris
Dunedin city councillors are preparing for a fresh war of words over Forsyth Barr Stadium, following confirmation it needs another $1.81million a year from ratepayers. The extra costs, together with a nearly $1million budget hole to be plugged by mid-2015, would see nearly $20million in extra ratepayer funding pumped into the venue over the next decade.
The findings – outlined with the release of the Dunedin City Council’s stadium review yesterday – prompted a mixture of resigned acceptance and recriminations from some councillors.
Read more

● ODT: ‘I don’t think we had much choice’- councillor
[Richard Thomson, chairman, DCC Finance Committee]

Agenda for Extraordinary Meeting | Monday 24 Nov at 1.00 PM
Venue: Edinburgh Room, Municipal Chambers

—

Related Posts and Comments:
19.11.14 Forsyth Barr Stadium Review
15.11.14 Stadium #TotalFail
12.11.14 DVML: Two directors gone before release of stadium review
8.10.14 Stadium: Liability Cull warns ratepayers could pay more to DVML
6.10.14 Stadium misses —like it would ever happen, Terry
4.10.14 DCHL & DVML: Call for directors
30.9.14 DCHL financial result
25.9.14 DVML on Otago Rugby and Rod
13.9.14 DVML and ORFU refuse to disclose 2012 Otago Rugby deal
10.9.14 Stadium: Behaviours at Suite 29 (intrepid tales)
8.9.14 Jim Harland and the stadium MESS
28.8.14 Stadium Review: dark yet rosy thoughts [joke, honest]
15.7.14 Stadium: Who is being protected?
15.7.14 Rugby stadiums not filling #SkyTV
29.6.14 Stadium: NZRU in the sights
24.6.14 Stadium: DVML, mothballing, and ‘those TVs’ #LGOIMA
18.6.14 Crowe Horwath Report (May 2014) – Review of DVML Expenses
13.5.14 Stadium benefits, what?! (Copeman)
11.5.14 Stadium: DCC proposes extra funds for stadium debt repayment
5.3.14 Stadium: Fairfax business editor pokes DCC’s Fubar
26.2.14 Stadium costs, read uncapped multimillion-dollar LOSSES
24.2.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust: ‘Facts about the new Stadium’ (31.5.08)
22.2.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust costs
2.2.14 Stadium: ODT editorial (1.2.14) —Garbutt debunks myths
1.2.14 Stadium: ODT editorial (1.2.14) —“Palpable claptrap” says Oaten
27.1.14 Stadium: No 4 at interest.co.nz
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass . . . [stadium review announced]

█ For more, enter *stadium*, *dvml*, *terry davies*, *cst*, *dchl*, *dcc*, *annual plan*, *rugby* or *carisbrook* in the search box at right.
ODT 31.5.08 (advertisement) | PDF fax copy cleaned by whatifdunedin
[click to enlarge]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Forsyth Barr Stadium Review

Updated post 20.11.14 at 2:31 p.m.

████ Download: Stadium Review Nov v 15 (585 KB, DOC)

This Report should be left on the table by Councillors at the Extraordinary Council Meeting on Monday 24 November, since the implications of the Review’s published content and lack of content are very serious indeed.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Harland to scale

[zoom text with Ctrl + and Ctrl -]

█ Ten years ago. Whoever typed THAT ?

—

Related Post and Comments:
8.9.14 Jim Harland and the stadium MESS
27.6.14 Stadium costs $23.4144 million per annum
2.6.14 Stadium costs ballpark at $21.337 million pa, Butler & Oaten
23.5.14 Stadium | DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 ● Benson-Pope asserts…
9.5.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submission by Bev Butler
10.4.14 Stadium: Edgar’s $1m donation (private sector fundraising)

For more, enter the terms *harland*, *farry*, *malcolm*, *athol*, *stadium*, *dcc*, *cst*, *dchl*, *dvml*, *orfu* or *rugby* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: Jim Harland and Sukhi Turner (via ODT 2.6.04) – supplied by Calvin Oaten

Jim Harland and the stadium MESS

Meanwhile, as Mayor Dave Cull’s council keeps up with massive spending on low priorities and unnecessaries, this comes to light:—

### ODT Online Mon, 8 Sep 2014
Stadium budget help was declined
By Chris Morris
The Dunedin City Council declined an offer of specialist help to keep its Forsyth Barr Stadium budget on track, years before the cost jumped by millions of dollars, it has been confirmed. The decision, revealed in an Audit New Zealand report from 2010, has been criticised by Mayor Dave Cull, who said it was “a function of the attitude of the management and the executive at the time”. Former council chief executive Jim Harland defends the decision, saying the council’s oversight was felt at the time to be “appropriate”. The offer was detailed in the Audit NZ annual report to the council, dated December 2010, which covered the 12-month period to June 30 that year.
Read more

—

The decision to build a debt-funded stadium – of which Jim Harland, Malcolm Farry, Athol Stephens, DCC stadium councillors, ORC stadium councillors, and professional rugby cronies are GUILTY – was ALWAYS the decision to bankrupt the Dunedin City Council but more especially, and insidiously, the ratepayers and residents of ‘greater’ Dunedin and Otago.¹

The Audit NZ offer was INANE and in any case a complete waste of time.
Audit NZ is what it is, a basket case. Of sheer incompetence and hypocrisy, nationwide.

Time for a full independent forensic audit of the Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust, fondly known as CST, headed by Malcolm Farry. This will also entail an intimate look at the way Dunedin City Council treated CST invoices, the Council’s spending delegations, and its chief signatories.

Let’s hope somebody goes to clink before the accounting games are over.
___________________________
¹Only now are Otago power users waking up to the fact of high line charges being levied by Aurora Energy Ltd to fund subvention payments to ‘the stadium’ (see recent letters to the editor in the Otago Daily Times).
Did the killer consolidated DCC think the people of Otago wouldn’t notice?

—

Related Post and Comments:
27.6.14 Stadium costs $23.4144 million per annum
2.6.14 Stadium costs ballpark at $21.337 million pa, Butler & Oaten
23.5.14 Stadium | DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 ● Benson-Pope asserts…
9.5.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submission by Bev Butler
10.4.14 Stadium: Edgar’s $1m donation (private sector fundraising)

For more, enter the terms *harland*, *farry*, *malcolm*, *athol*, *stadium*, *dcc*, *cst*, *dchl*, *dvml*, *orfu* or *rugby* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: odt.co.nz (re-imaged by whatifdunedin) – Jim Harland

DCHL: Aurora upgrade implicates Delta

The upgrade would cost DCC, as Aurora’s annual dividend – passed on to the council and used to offset rates – dropped by $2 million a year, to $7.5 million, from 2015-16.

Delta had shed almost 150 workers and closed its entire civil construction arm since mid-2012.

### ODT Online Sat, 2 Aug 2014
Aurora plans $139.2m upgrade
By Chris Morris
Dunedin City Council-owned lines company Aurora Energy says a planned $139.2 million investment in its network will create about 20 jobs and help ensure the lights stay on as growth picks up in Central Otago. The company’s five-year spending plan would result in upgrades and replacement of key pieces of ageing infrastructure across the network, which supplied 83,000 customers in Dunedin and Central Otago. […] The work would also generate spin-off benefits for another council-owned entity, infrastructure company Delta, which already managed Aurora’s network and shared the same management and directors.
Read more

****

Ah well.

### ODT Online Sat, 2 Aug 2014
Cameron nominated
By Chris Morris
Aurora Energy chief executive Grady Cameron hopes to have put the challenges of the past few years behind him.
Mr Cameron (39), also chief executive of Delta, has been named one of three finalists in the Young Executive of the Year category of the Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards. The winner will be announced in Auckland on August 13.
Read more

—

Related Posts and Comments:
5.7.124 DCC’s debt level — who do you believe?
2.6.14 QB 2014 gongs of ill-repute #Hudson COI = MNZM
17.4.14 Aussie wine – NO parallels at DCC/DCHL/DVML/DVL/Delta/ORFU
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
25.3.14 Delta blues . . . and Easy Rider
20.3.14 Delta: Report from Office of the Auditor-General
14.3.14 Delta: Mayor ignores Cr Vandervis’ official complaint
8.11.13 DCHL, long wait for review (Larsen sighs)
15.7.13 Delta, Carisbrook, Fubar Stadium —Councillors “weak”, or worse
12.7.13 Delta Utility Services Ltd, missing column…
9.7.13 Delta Utility Services Ltd, full investigation needed
12.11.12 Delta purchases | Vandervis OAG complaint accepted
26.10.12 DCHL: New directors for Aurora, Delta, City Forests

For more, enter the terms *aurora*, *delta*, *dchl*, *dcc*, *auditnz* or *oag* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: Grady Cameron and salary by whatifdunedin; auroraenergy.co.nz – Aurora by Joshua Strang (2006); St Clair by Sean Waller (2009); thinkdelta.co.nz – graphic reworked by whatifdunedin

Carisbrook Stadium Trust —were the trustees paid?

Supplied. The peculiar reply.
ODT 18.7.14 (page 16)

█ The CST continues to be registered as a charitable trust with the Charities Commission. What is the trust’s current work all about? Are the trustees still being paid? From which funding source?

For more information, enter *carisbrook* in the search box at right.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: Who is being protected?

Received from Russell Garbutt
15 July 2014 at 4:30 PM

What is an advertisement, and what content of an advertisement needs to be able to be verified?

Readers of the Otago Daily Times, and followers of the on-going stadium debate which shows no signs of lessening in its intensity may be intrigued to know just where the sensitivities of the ODT lie.

Let us look at some simple facts which cannot be in dispute.

The Carisbrook Stadium Trust which was acting as an agent of the Dunedin City Council, decided to publish a full page advertisement in the 31 May 2008 issue of the ODT. The advertisement was headed up “The Facts about the New Stadium”.

In this advertisement it was claimed that “The funding target establishes a debt free stadium. On this basis the business plan for the stadium shows that it makes a profit. Unlike nearly all other Council owned facilities it will not need annual funding support. This assessment has been confirmed by two of New Zealand’s leading accountancy firms”.

This is published and accessible and the wording of the advertisement cannot be interpreted in any other way as the heading refers to all that followed as “facts”.

The advertisement also claimed that the Trustees of the CST were “committed to delivering this stadium, under budget, on time and to achieve its financial, social and economic goals”.

Now of course some advertisements for wrinkle cream use all sorts of phrases like “clinical tests prove etc etc”. Many people are ready to pounce on claims that are unable to be substantiated, or are untruthful, or are misleading, or cannot be proven. In other words, the makers of the wrinkle cream need to be able to show that there were indeed “clinical tests”. The fact that the clinic may have been part of the company making the cream is sometimes understood, and in any case, the makers of the cream hardly ever claim that “totally independent clinical trials using double blind processes found what we are claiming is true”.

But this is not some pot of wrinkle cream.

The CST claimed a number of facts in their advertisement that they said were verified by two of New Zealand’s leading accountancy firms.

So, I submitted a very brief letter to the Editor of the ODT that simply asked this:

Dear Sir

In light of the continuing operating losses of the Awatea Street Rugby Stadium, and the on-going debt costs from its construction, it would be interesting to be informed of just who the two leading NZ accountancy firms were that confirmed the Carisbrook Stadium Trust’s claims published in the ODT in 2008 that the stadium would be built debt free and would return an annual operating profit. Maybe these two companies could now tell us how the reality differs so much from the published claims.

Yours sincerely

The ODT has informed me that my letter was noted but not selected for publication. This is newspaper speak for it’s been binned.

Why should this be?

Should the ODT not be interested in ensuring that an advertisement of a major size on a subject that had divided the City was not at all misleading in the same way that claims were made that may not be able to be substantiated, or could be shown to be unfactual?

Is the ODT particularly sensitive to the views of those that decided to publish this advertisement?

Had the ODT entered into any understanding or arrangement that the paper would support the stadium project which may have led to less than stringent standards of advertising being followed in this case?

But perhaps more telling is that to my knowledge, the ODT has not followed up on the obvious story of just who these two leading NZ accounting firms were that supported the claims of a debt free stadium and an annual operating profit. My point is that time and distance show us that these claims were so at odds with the claims made and published, that serious questions remain unanswered on just how the CST and these two companies got it so wrong.

Maybe another newspaper sees the story that the ODT doesn’t?

[ends]

█ Legible copy: CST Advertisement, ODT 31 May 2008 (PDF, 200 KB)

—

Related Posts and Comments:
9.7.14 John Ward, no mention of stadium or CST trusteeship
23.5.14 Stadium | DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 ● Benson-Pope…
9.5.14 DCC Draft Annual Plan 2014/15 Submission by Bev Butler
12.3.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust: Financial statements year ended 30.6.13
8.3.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust subject to LGOIMA
24.2.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust: ‘Facts about the new Stadium’ (31.5.08)
22.2.14 Carisbrook Stadium Trust costs
24.1.14 Stadium: It came to pass… [stadium review]

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

John Ward, no mention of stadium or CST trusteeship

The University of Otago chose to profile its chancellor, Invercargill’s John Ward, in the June 2014 issue of Otago Magazine (pages 22-24). Note Mr Ward omits to mention the Stadium, or his trusteeship on the Carisbrook Stadium (Charitable) Trust. Isn’t that funny. Well, he looks a bit pursed in the photograph anyway.

Source: http://www.otago.ac.nz/otagomagazine/otago072837.pdf
Thumbnail: Photo by Alan Dove

—

Related Posts and Comments:
20.5.14 Tim Hunter on Ward, McLauchlan, Hayne #Highlanders
10.2.14 University of Otago major sponsor for Highlanders
31.5.13 University of Otago development plans

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr