Kaipara rates row : High Court finds “serious and substantial” errors

“If the council had just accepted the money, admitted that the people withholding their rates were wronged, that their case had merit, we could have all moved forward together” – Mangawhai ratepayer Bruce Rogan
(via Checkpoint) Audio | Download: MP3 (3′04″)

### radionz.co.nz 6:01 pm on 16 Sep 2016
New Zealand: Northland
Northland rates rebels win partial victory
By Lois Williams – Northland reporter
The rebel ratepayers of Mangawhai in Northland have won a partial victory in the High Court. The court has found that rates levied from 2011 to 2014 by the Northland Regional Council, via Kaipara District Council rate demands, were unlawful. In an interim decision, Justice Duffy found the Northland Regional Council (NRC) has no power to delegate the assessment of rates or the recovery of arrears to other councils. “The errors I have identified are serious and substantial,” the judge said. “In short, the NRC has failed to exercise its statutory powers properly when determining rates resolutions and it has unlawfully sought to delegate the performance of a number of its functions in relation to rates to the Kaipara District Council.” […] The Mangawhai ratepayers’ chair, Bruce Rogan, said the ruling was very welcome, although the court did not uphold the group’s challenge to penalties and GST imposed by the Kaipara District Council. The council should now agree to negotiate a deal to end the six-year-old Kaipara rates row, Mr Rogan said.
Read more

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From Kaipara Concerns (community website):

INTERIM HIGH COURT JUDGMENT RELEASED 16.09.2016
Duffy J has made an interim judgment in respect of the judicial review brought by the MRRA and Bruce and Heather Rogan challenging the lawfulness of rates set by the NRC and the KDC.

She has made the following decisions:

NRC
1. The NRC rates were not set lawfully for the 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 rating years. [27]
2. The NRC’s delegation to the KDC of the assessment of rates and recovery of rates for the rating years between 2011/2012 and 2015/2016 inclusive was unlawful. Accordingly those rates were not lawfully assessed. [58]
3. The NRC’s delegation to the KDC to add penalties to NRC rates was unlawful. Therefore the penalties imposed on rates in respect of NRC rates was unlawful. [74]
4. The Validation Act only validated the unlawful rates of the KDC. It did not validate the unlawful rates of the NRC. [111]

Result
[129] I make the following declaration: The NRC’s rates for the KDC region have not been lawfully set or assessed for the rating years from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016 inclusive.

Duffy J has not yet decided what order to make in respect of ordering the NRC to refund the unlawful rates charged. She has invited the NRC to make further submissions and especially to examine how this ruling might affect the legality of the rates that it has set for its other constituent areas – Whangarei and the Far North. Those rates might also be unlawful.

She will make her final decision once both parties have made further submissions.
Read more

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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has issued a press release in respect of the Duffy J’s High Court decision:

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Related Posts and Comments:
31.3.16 Ratepayers achieve for Kaipara District —what Dunedin counterparts…
3.10.15 Kaipara Concerns —ADOTROL* disease [Dunedin mention, again!]
13.2.15 Associate Minister of Local Government: Return democracy to Kaipara
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.

Ratepayers achieve for Kaipara District —what Dunedin counterparts fail to do for spurious ‘pet projects’

Link + message received.
Thu, 31 Mar 2016 at 8:24 a.m.

█ Message: Maybe time to revisit Jacks Point and Luggate? …

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The Mangawhai wastewater scheme cost about $63.3 million. Overall costs were not just financial, the Auditor-General’s report said. “They included a failed council, councillors replaced with commissioners, the departure of a chief executive, a severely damaged relationship between the council and community, an organisation that needed to be rebuilt, and much more.”

### Stuff.co.nz Last updated 17:21, March 30 2016
Dispute settlement sees Auditor General pay nearly $5.4 million to Kaipara District Council
About $5.375 million will be paid to the Kaipara District Council by the Auditor-General’s office now that a dispute between the two has been settled. Mediation of the dispute over audit issues around the controversial and costly Mangawhai wastewater scheme was held by retired High Court judge Rodney Hansen QC, without any admission of liability and for each party to cover their own litigation costs.

Auditor-General Lyn Provost’s scathing inquiry report to Parliament in December 2013 outlined “a woeful saga” surrounding the community wastewater scheme, managed by the then-council between 1996 and 2012. It covered roles played by other agencies, including the Controller and Auditor-General’s office. The inquiry found the council failed to adequately perform its responsibilities to the community in connection with the wastewater scheme. The council itself alleged the Auditor-General did not identify these failings in a timely manner and take appropriate steps to bring them to the council’s attention. It also alleged some of the poor decisions it made could have been averted if the Auditor-General’s office had performed its responsibilities appropriately.

The Auditor-General offered an unreserved apology in the report to the Kaipara district community for the office’s failings in some of its work, but disputed the council’s damages claim. In particular, the Auditor-General considered the council had the responsibility to comply with its statutory obligations, and its failure to do so is not attributable to the Auditor-General’s office. The dispute was settled with neither party admitting liability but the Auditor-General’s office agreeing to pay $5.38 million to Kaipara District Council.

A rates revolt began as costs were included in Mangawhai rates, with some properties connected to the new scheme now paying around $3000 annually in rates. Kaipara District Council commissioner John Robertson said the council was pleased to see a positive outcome from the High Court action it took against the Auditor-General in 2014. “If we hadn’t got an outcome we would be back in court and facing all the risks of whatever judgments go on these sorts of things.”

The Kaipara District Council has two more court battles pending with Mangawhai ratepayers.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
3.10.15 Kaipara Concerns —ADOTROL* disease [Dunedin mention, again!]
13.2.15 Associate Minister of Local Government: Return democracy to Kaipara
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Screening tonight: Paradigm Episode 2! Local Government Corruption in NZ #Sky #YouTube

Updated post
Tue, 15 Sep 2015 at 1:25 a.m.

███ A “MUST” WATCH
Vincent Eastwood Published on Sep 14, 2015
Local Governance & Corruption, Paradigm Episode 2 Vinny Eastwood
Episode 2 of PARADIGM broadcasted on Face TV Sky Channel 083 on September 14th 2015 at 9pm NZT

TOPIC: Local Governance & Corruption
GUESTS: Bruce Rogan from the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association with activist and Mayoral candidate Penny Bright.
● How privatisation and secretive powerful roundtable groups (comprised mostly of large companies) have led to the rise of unelected, unaccountable officials.
● The utter refusal of EVERY SINGLE AUTHORITY in New Zealand to investigate corruption.
The police, the judiciary, the ombudsman, the minister for local government, the auditor general, political parties, the list goes on, every authority whose job is to investigate, prevent or punish corruption actually supports it!
● Why local citizens have no rights and why local government has no rules.

FACE FACT KIWIS
Believing NZ is corruption free was the very mechanism by which criminals took control of our country. The only reason NZ is #2 on Transparency International’s “perceived” least corrupt countries in the world list, is we’re the 2nd best in the world at concealing our corruption.

—

Vincent Eastwood Published on Sep 12, 2015
Paradigm Episode 2 coming soon! Local Government Corruption
PLEASE SHARE THIS!
Help me get as many people as possible to watch the show tomorrow night!
9pm NZT

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Received. [names deleted]
Mon, 14 Sep 2015 at 4:00 p.m.

Re: DOCO ON CORRUPTION, AND MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL.

Tonight (14 September, 9:00pm) on Sky channel 83 there will be an episode of Paradigm which will feature the Kaipara Scam. Paradigm is a program that is the brainchild of a guy called Vinny Eastwood, and it is not an exaggeration to say that Vinny has picked up the ball that John Campbell (or rather Channel 3) dropped. Promo for the programme is at https://www.facebook.com/vincenteastwood/videos/10153220793607879/
Vinny has a deceptively casual and disarming manner that belies a very serious commitment to exposing corruption and fraud (he calls it scumbaggery).
As an MRRA member you will already be aware of the degree of scumbaggery besetting Kaipara, but it is highly unlikely that your friends and relations will grasp the scale of what is happening in New Zealand. Please do yourself a favour and send this email to everyone in your circle, especially your adult children, who are going to be wealth-stripped by the corporates that are taking over. Add your personal plea that they take a few minutes away from Coronation Street and watch something that might actually affect their lives.
Our financial year ends on 31 October. We want everyone to renew their membership please and we want new members from all over the country (world!) as we mount the final campaign to get justice for the country’s ratepayers. Please renew – don’t just leave it to the other guys to carry all the water. What other association can you think of that supplies over forty free informative newsletters per year?!, and has an executive team that is prepared to go to jail to defend your rights! (informative might be stretching it, but beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, going to jail is still a real possibility!).
The annual sub is still only $15.00 per family, or $10.00 single, and we have put no limit on donations, because we do not want to discourage that philanthropic person out there with $100,000 they have no further use for.
The account number is 38 9012 0318164 00 or cheques to MRRA at Box 225 Mangawhai 0540. Make sure please to include your membership number […], and if you are a new member please provide a name and phone number so we can call you and get all the details.

Kind regards,
MRRA Executive Committee.
[Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association]

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█ More at Kaipara Concerns (online news):

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION SCAM 14.09.2015
Tonight, Monday night (14 September 2015), 9pm on Face (access) TV. Sky network channel 83.

NZ’s MASSIVE Local Government Corruption Scam, Paradigm Episode 2

Bruce Rogan (Mangawhai Ratepayers) and Penny Bright interviewed by Vinny Eastwood on council corruption in New Zealand.

See the promo video here. #Facebook

See Bruce Rogan’s rates revolt speech here. #YouTube

—

Related Posts and Comments:
28.8.15 Joel Cayford: ‘Mangawhai Ratepayers at Court of Appeal’
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
12.6.14 Fairfax Media [not ODT] initiative on Local Bodies
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
11.4.14 Councils: Unaccountable, ready to tax? #DCC #ORC
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Joel Cayford: ‘Mangawhai Ratepayers at Court of Appeal’

Link received. [Hooray!]
Fri, 28 Aug 2015 at 10:50 a.m.

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### joelcayford.blogspot.co.nz Thu, 27 August 2015
Mangawhai Ratepayers at Court of Appeal

Joel Cayford [‘Reflections on Auckland Planning’] updates the Court of Appeal hearing (25-26 August) – Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association v Kaipara District Council – in front of Justice Rhys Harrison, Justice Mark Cooper, and Justice Forrest Miller.

Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association (MRRA) is represented by Matthew Palmer QC and barrister Kitt Littlejohn. David Goddard QC represents the council.

Cayford summarises the “causes of action for this hearing – which followed the judicial review heard by Justice Heath (posts here and here)”:

“that the Kaipara District Council (KDC) does not have the power to rate for unlawful purposes. That KDC acted unlawfully in deciding to enter into and expand the Ecocare Wastewater Scheme, and that it could not then enforce rates on ratepayers.

“that the Validation Act did not retrospectively validate ALL matters stemming from those unlawful decisions. It only validated various historic rating defects. Significant matters – including the additional $30,000,000 loan were not dealt with or validated by the Validation Act.

“that the KDC acted inconsistently with the Bill of Rights Act by initiating Validation Legislation which had an effect of undermining MRRA judicial review proceedings – to which they had a right.”

Of critical interest, Cayford says Matthew Palmer, in his closing, “told the Justices, to the effect: “a consequence of adopting the arguments of my learned friend would mean that any Council in New Zealand can breech Local Government Act provisions with impunity, leave ratepayers with the bill, and mean that Long Term Plans all become window-dressing, ratepayer submissions become meaningless. That cannot have been what Parliament intended.””

█ Read Cayford’s excellent post and reader comments here.

LinkedIn: Joel Cayford

Although the Court of Appeal ruling is some way off, fallout might very well illuminate effects of the Dunedin stadium rort, council debt loading and issues of general competency.

—

Related Posts and Comments:
2.2.15 LGNZ run by Mad Rooster Yule, end of story
27.11.14 Auditor-general Lyn Provost #Resign
31.10.14 Whaleoil on “dodgy ratbag local body politicians” —just like ours at DCC
9.9.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara: Latest news + Winston Peter’s speech
19.7.14 Whaleoil / Cameron Slater on ratepayers’ lament
12.6.14 Fairfax Media [not ODT] initiative on Local Bodies
29.5.14 Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Assn wins at High Court
11.4.14 Councils: Unaccountable, ready to tax? #DCC #ORC
31.3.14 Audit services to (paying) local bodies #FAIL ● AuditNZ ● OAG…
29.1.14 Mangawhai, Kaipara —we hear ya!
3.12.13 LGNZ: OAG report on Kaipara
12.11.13 Northland council amalgamation
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
21.4.13 Councils “in stchook” —finance & policy analyst Larry.N.Mitchell
19.3.12 Local government reform
21.2.12 Kaipara this time

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

STS meanders to justify calling special meeting

Copy of Stop The Stadium group email as received:

From: Stop the Stadium Announcement list
Date: 11 October 2009 4:55:45 PM NZDT
To: sts mailout
Subject: [sts] Notice of special meeting, to be held at Pioneer Women’s Hall, 362, Moray Place. (near Dick Smith’s), on Sunday, 18th October, at 3:00 pm.
Reply-To: bevkiwi@hotmail.com

Notice of special meeting, to be held at Pioneer Women’s Hall, 362, Moray Place. (near Dick Smith’s), on Sunday, 18th October, at 3:00 pm.

Dear Members,

As you will be aware, STS has lost its recent appeal on the High Court decision concerning the legality of the DCC’s handling of its stadium activities. The point of our legal action, you may remember, hinged upon whether or not the stadium proposal had changed “significantly” in the year preceding the Council’s signing of the final contracts. If these changes were genuinely significant then the council was legally obligated to take account of submissions to its 2009 city plan – which the council refused to do, despite intense public interest and a very large volume of submissions.
The facts were not really obscure: between 2008 and 2009 the stadium cost had gone up by more than $10million; the private funding had all disappeared, and the risk to the ratepayers had increased exponentially – significant changes by any measure.

The High Court hearing was a farce. The DCC misled (in other words lied to) the judge, thereby papering-over a gap of some $15million, and the judge, after admitting that he had not actually understood the evidence in front of him, sided with the Council. Score one for New Zealand “justice”!

At the subsequent appeal the same dismal standards applied. The Appeal Court judges – all three of them – simply rubber-stamped the decision of the High Court – even while acknowledging that the DCC had misled the judge at the earlier hearing. This was perfectly acceptable, apparently, because, having realized that its first story was no longer believable, the DCC had cooked up a new one, and was now pretending that, although the up-front expenditure on the stadium had greatly increased, the long-term cost remained the same.

“We are satisfied”, concluded the learned justices, “that the capital contribution to be made by the Council to the stadium is greater than that projected in the 2008 long-term plan”. (In other words there had, as STS had argued, been significant changes) “But we are also satisfied that the total cost to the Council is not significantly increased from that projected in the 2008 long-term plan, nor is the average cost per ratepayer”. (Translation: “never mind the Council’s previous lies – we’re willing to swallow its new ones”).

No-one, having followed the stadium saga, would accept this cock-and-bull story. But the judges did. They accepted, as gospel, the DCC’s prediction that interest rates in the month of April, 2015, would be exactly 7.47% – and would remain so, without change, till April 2030. (7.47% being the minimum figure required for the DCC’s bogus projections to work).

Interest rates, as everyone knows, are notoriously fickle – even six months ahead, never mind twenty years. They have ranged from 2.5% to 20% within the past two decades – and these swings were never predicted. Yet the gentlemen of the bench saw fit to base their judgment on the DCC’s assurance that, twenty years from now, the prevailing interest rate would be 7.47%, no more, no less. And the people of Dunedin were denied their rights on this contemptible fiction.

We no longer have a justice system. We have an injustice system, rotten at every level, in which incompetent judges back each other up irrespective of the evidence. Honesty and morality have become irrelevant – a circumstance now locally embellished by the reinstatement of the disgraced lawyer, Michael Guest, on the astonishing basis that an even more culpable crook was allowed back on board some years earlier!

The justice system is dead, and so, it seems, is normal democratic practice. Real-estate agents are now permitted to sit on our Regional Council, making decisions on the future of communal land that their private firms are engaged in selling. The DCC staggers from blunder to blunder, and ever deeper into debt, as it squeezes our publicly-owned enterprises closer and closer to bankruptcy. The “international” airport – promoted and lauded by Cr Richard Walls – has become an economic black hole. And now the council is squandering further millions in barricading itself from an irate public it is nominally supposed to serve.

The stadium, of course, remains in its own league of stratospheric imbecility. It has all the attributes of a primitive cargo cult – an infallible totem to be invested with the pathetic hopes of its dwindling band of believers. The ORFU, its original “anchor tenant” (alas, an anchor tenant no longer) may not be in business a season or so from now – it may not even need Carisbrook. But that’s just a minor setback, because the Otago Boys High School might use the stadium in 2013 for its 150thReunion (with a re-booking, possibly, in 2163). Then we have the bright new idea – the Dunedin Tattoo, which is going to rival Edinburgh’s, and fill the rugby pitch to the rafters every couple of weeks or so. And if all else fails we can send for Elton John.

We live in a time of ignominy – or, to use Auden’s perfect phrase “a low, dishonest decade”. And the temptation, as always in such times, is to walk away, to pronounce a curse upon this clique of parasites and all their shoddy houses, and to retreat into the satisfactions of our own private lives. That is the choice that faces us now, individually and together.

The Courts, in their malevolence, have awarded costs of almost $10,000 against STS. We need hardly repeat the injustice of this, but we must address the issue and decide where we are to go from now. There are really only two alternatives: we can fold up (as we are obviously expected to), or we can refuse to be put out of action by this legal intimidation.

The STS committee, having considered the options carefully, is strongly of the view that quitting now would be a dereliction of our duty as citizens. Together we have done our best to bring our City and Regional councillors to their senses, yet all our submissions, demonstrations, and protests have been ignored, and the DCC/ORC continue to behave as though immune from the voice of the electorate. For the future good of our city we must rid ourselves of these puppets. If they, or any substantial proportion of them, survive the next elections, this city will be bankrupt. Your committee recommends, therefore, that STS remain in being, with a new mission statement (and possibly a change of title) reflecting the reality of what we now need to do.

You, the members, have supported us throughout this long and disillusioning struggle. We cannot blame you in the least if you now decide that further sacrifice and effort are too much. Our future course is in your hands, and will be decided at a special meeting, to be held at Pioneer Women’s Hall, 362, Moray Place, on Sunday, 18th October, at 3:00pm.

More than three-quarters of Dunedin people have repudiated the burden of this stadium. Their submissions and reasoned arguments have been brushed aside, and their legal rights extinguished. But people have the ultimate sanction: they still have votes – and an urgent need to be honestly informed as we approach the next elections. You, as the fifteen hundred members of STS, are at present the most potent force to do this, and to ensure the return of integrity to our once well-governed city. Please attend the meeting.

Dave Witherow (President). Pat Johnston (Treasurer). Carol Sawyer (Secretary). Rolf Feitscher, Gavin MacDonald. Darryl Ostrer. Lyndon Weggery (Committee).

Post by Elizabeth Kerr

D Scene – STS ordered to pay DCC !!

### D Scene 16-9-09
STS ordered to pay $9k (page 7)
Stop The Stadium has been ordered to pay Dunedin City Council $9740 by the High Court. The decision, released yesterday, dismissed STS’s application for costs and upheld costs sought by DCC.
{continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Undie issues (page 3)
By Dave Wood, acting editor
The core issue behind the Undie 500 mayhem will not be solved in the next year; probably not in the next decade. Binge drinking is too ingrained in the New Zealand culture.
{continues}

Undie 500 students await fate (page 5)
By Michelle Sutton
Students directly involved in the Undie 500 mayhem face a nervous wait as Otago University determines what penalties will apply.
{continues}

Who exactly was arrested, find out here…
First students* appear in court (page 5)
By Wilma McCorkindale
The first court appearances in relation to the weekend’s Undie 500 mayhem were made yesterday with three people appearing in the Dunedin District Court.
{continues}
*These people are not described as students in other media…

Time to play the Blame Game again (page 5)
Student scene with Morgan Tait
It is this time each year, in the aftermath of the infamous Undie 500 visit to Dunedin, that interested parties engage in many rounds of the Blame Game.
{continues}

Some estimates…
‘Biggest cost is city’s reputation’ (page 6)
By Michelle Sutton
The cost of Dunedin’s Castle St carnage cannot be accurately measured. The physical clean up has already cost thousands of dollars, but city leaders expect it to escalate as the city’s reputation suffers the biggest loss.
{continues}

****

A week of it (page 10)
“I know they will pull out all the stops to get the stadium finished on time. It may be that the concrete’s still drying as the players run out.”
Find out who said this…

Talk: Dunedin on Dunedin (page 10)
Your say
Council planning by Lyndon Weggery, Kew
Mega-ward by Gavin MacDonald, St Kilda
Delta questions by Calvin Oaten, Pine Hill

****

STS is NOT a political party. Would you vote for these people?
‘Our votes the key to everything’ (page 11)
The Stop The Stadium group is to consider a change of direction to focus on replacing Dunedin City Council and Otago Regional Council councillors at next year’s elections. Newly elected STS president Dave Witherow says the last three years have been an all-time low for the city.
{continues}

On the matter of costs

Remember the gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone…

### ODT Online Wed, 2 Sep 2009
Stadium group seeks costs
By David Loughrey

Stop the Stadium’s lawyers are applying for $17,513 court costs from the Dunedin City Council following the organisation’s High Court challenge to the council’s funding of the Forsyth Barr Stadium. The council, in turn, is applying for $11,000 from Stop the Stadium, and the organisation’s future hangs on the result.
Read more

…symbolising the struggle between law and order and open banditry and rustling in frontier towns of the Old West?

****

Local resident Syd Adie thinks STS should have joined the Dunedin Householders and Ratepayers Association to stop the stadium project. He calls for people concerned about the city’s direction to take in a wider range of issues, and to blame a wider group of organisations than just the Dunedin City Council for the Forsyth Barr Stadium.
ODT Link

Basil Walker: “My purpose is not to stop the stadium.”

“It’s to stop Queenstown paying for the stupid thing.”

### ODT Online Fri, 28 Aug 2009
Case stalled over security issue
By David Loughrey

The only current legal challenge to the Forsyth Barr Stadium appears to be in limbo. Queenstown man Basil Walker said yesterday he had filed the necessary papers for security of costs so his appeal hearing could go ahead, but the Otago Regional Council said it was yet to receive security.
Read more

STS posts Injunction Appeal documents

Injunction Appeal documents supplied today:

• STS Argument
• DCC Submission
• STS oral submission

• [DCC source file] Jim Harland and Athol Stephens Affidavits
• [Courts of New Zealand] Decision

DScene: Delta, STS, DCC larks

### DScene 26-8-09
Suite for some (page 1)
Stop The Stadium has lost another legal fight, but it’s still throwing punches. One target of the-cash strapped group is Delta Utilities spending on a corporate suite. See page 5.

Thank you (page 3)
By Dave Wood, acting editor
Dunedin councillor Richard Walls was heard to ask at a recent council meeting if D Scene was still going. The question illustrates the soundness of the move by the former mayor to immerse himself in a community blog to help his understanding of what is happening in Dunedin.
{continues}

Register to read DScene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

New board appointed (page 4)
By Wilma McCorkindale
The new board of Dunedin Venues Management Ltd has been appointed by the Dunedin City Council and it’s top heavy with out-of-towners.
{continues}

STS gunning for Delta (page 5)
By Michelle Sutton
The cash-strapped Stop The Stadium group has hit out at Dunedin City Council-owned Delta Utilities having a $500,000 corporate suite in the new stadium.
{continues}

Counting the cost (page 5)
Construction costs for Dunedin’s new stadium are out, but court costs haven’t been tallied yet. The council and the Stop The Stadium group say they will release how much they spent fighting each other about the stadium in court.
{continues}

Saying bye to the ‘Brook (page 6)
ORFU chief executive Richard Reid hopes to learn this week that Carisbrook has been given a Welsh farewell next year by hosting an All Blacks v Wales test. He talks to Michelle Sutton about saying goodbye to The House of Pain and most – but not all – of the union’s multi-million dollar debt.
{continues}

Offices may move (page 8)
By Wilma McCorkindale
The word on George Street is Dunedin City Council offices might join the city’s library in the former Chief Post Office building.
{continues}

(page 8)
Dunedin City Council property boss Robert Clark is declining to release the cost of a study into re-development of the Dunedin library into the Chief Post Office building.
{continues}

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Mayor Chin to publicise STS cost to Council

### ODT Online Tue, 25 Aug 2009
Group to face hefty legal bill
By David Loughrey

Stop the Stadium faces paying up to $17,000 in court costs, after its challenge to the Dunedin City Council’s funding of the Forsyth Barr Stadium was yesterday dismissed.
Read more

****

### ODT Online Tue, 25 Aug 2009
$13m stadium funding ‘error’ revealed
By David Loughrey

Stop the Stadium may have lost its Court of Appeal case, but the group says it has exposed incorrect claims about stadium funding by the Dunedin City Council.
Read more

1. STS response – appeal 2. Coastal protection – comments

STS statement re Appeal decision

STS is disappointed with the Wellington Court of Appeal result but pleased the action has forced the Dunedin City Council to admit that what they told the Christchurch High Court was wrong and the Council, NOT the Central Government, are making up the $13 million shortfall.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

STS Appeal thrown out +Decision +Affidavits

### Channel 9 Online August 24, 2009 – 7:46pm
Stop the Stadium get[s] bad news regarding its appeal

Stop the Stadium today received the news they didn’t want to hear regarding the appeal of their case, arguing that the Dunedin City Council breached the Local Government Act by going ahead with Forsyth Barr Stadium. The Court of Appeal released its decision this morning, and stated that it was satisfied there was no breach of the Act by signing a construction contract.
Video Link (01:49)

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### ODT Online Mon, 24 Aug 2009
Court rejects bid to stop stadium

Stop the Stadium’s bid to block the construction of the Forsyth Barr stadium has been thrown out by the Court of Appeal. The court has also awarded costs to the Dunedin City Council.

The court said in its decision released this morning it was satisfied the council had not acted contrary to the [Local Government] Act when signing the construction contract.
Read more

The Decision

Affidavits (PDF, 2.4 mb, new window)
Jim Harland and Athol Stephens’ Affidavits

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### TVNZ News Published: 11:19AM Monday August 24, 2009
Dunedin stadium appeal rejected
Source: ONE News

Dunedin’s new covered stadium has cleared its final hurdle. The court of appeal on Monday morning rejected a legal bid from the city’s Stop The Stadium group to pull the plug on the $200 million project. The court ruled the project’s costs have not increased significantly from those set out in the council’s long-term plan.

“I think I would have felt very sorry for Stop the Stadium if they had won this because they would have been crucified,” says Malcolm Farry, the Stadium Trust chairman.
Read more

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### RNZ News Updated at 12:18pm on 24 August 2009
Dunedin stadium opponents lose appeal

A Court of Appeal bid to prevent construction of a new stadium in Dunedin has failed. In April, the group Stop the Stadium unsuccessfully sought a High Court injunction, claiming that changes to the project’s financial structure would increase costs for Dunedin ratepayers.

Earlier this month the group’s lawyers told the Court of Appeal that the cost of the stadium’s construction was significantly more than the figure earlier included in the plan sent out for public consultation.

However lawyers for the Dunedin City Council said if further consultation was ordered, it would kill the project.

The Court ruled on Monday that the cost increase is not significant and the Dunedin City Council has not breached legal requirements in entering a contract to build the stadium.
RNZ Link

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### NBR Monday August 24 2009 – 12:05pm
Green light for Dunedin stadium
NBR staff

Dunedin’s new rugby stadium will go ahead after the Stop the Stadium Society had its appeal against the city council dismissed today. The Court of Appeal has awarded costs to the Dunedin City Council.

The Stop the Stadium Society argued that the council had breached section 97 (2) of the Local Government Act 2002 when it decided to proceed on its plans to build Carisbrook’s replacement.
Read more

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### NBR Monday August 24 2009 – 01:53pm
Court of Appeal dimisses allegations against Dunedin City Council
By Kelly Gregor

Dunedin’s new rugby stadium will go ahead despite legal action taken by Stop the Stadium Society that raised concerns on how the council would fund the multi-million dollar development.

The society had its appeal dismissed by the Court of Appeal today and costs have been awarded to the Dunedin City Council.

A local government bylaw, section 97 (2), was at the heart of the dispute.
Read more

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### TV3 News Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:58P.M.
New Dunedin stadium on track after appeal thrown out
By Dave Goosselink

The multi-purpose stadium being built in Dunedin remains on track, after a bid to block its construction was thrown out by the Court of Appeal.
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### TV3 News online 24 Aug 2009 3:43p.m.
Comment by Phil

……and so the arms race of the 21st century continues, carried along on the back of the long suffering rate-payer. Who can build the biggest and best sports stadium regardless of cost and little regard to those who have to pay for it.

STS v DCC – Court of Appeal

### ODT Online Wed, 19 Aug 2009
Stadium appeal delay questioned
By David Loughrey

Stop the Stadium’s counsel Len Andersen called yesterday for a contract to build the Forsyth Barr Stadium to be quashed so “proper consultation” could be held, despite being told the horse may have already bolted.
Read more

STS day in court

Counsel for DCC: “We are at the point of no return.”

### ODT Online Tue, 18 Aug 2009
Appeal court reserves decision on stadium

The Stop the Stadium group has gone to the Court of Appeal, seeking to quash a decision to go ahead with Carisbrook’s replacement, despite the piles already being in the ground for the $198 million project. The Court today reserved its decision following complex legal arguments, but promised to release its findings as soon as it could. NZPA
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Campbell Live: "Backers of the stadium are under intense pressure"

STS goes to the Court of Appeal in Wellington next week
Tuesday 18 August at 10am…

### TV3 Campbell Live Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:54
Construction of Dunedin’s new stadium underway – Video

After years of delays and in a decision that divided a community, work is finally underway at the new stadium in Dunedin – the first stadium in the country to have a permanent roof.
Read more

See Video

STS: Date for Court of Appeal

Drawing the long bow…

### ODT Online Mon, 3 Aug 2009
Stop the Stadium gets date for hearing
By David Loughrey

Stop the Stadium president Bev Butler still hopes the Forsyth Barr Stadium can be stopped, despite construction proceeding at the Awatea St site. The group’s next court date has been set for 10am on August 18 at the Court of Appeal, in Wellington.
Read more

D Scene behind with name calling

A slow news week at D Scene. Read What if? or ODT instead.

### D Scene 8-7-09 (page 3)
Got a complex
By Ryan Keen, Editor
Forsyth Barr Stadium at University Plaza. Mmmm. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue does it. You’d like to think those driving the controversial $198 million project didn’t spend too much coming up with that clunky moniker. Given the brand launch for the…deep breath now…Forsyth Barr Stadium at University what’s it was held just last week, it’s time to consider other names for the venue. Let’s hope, once it’s built, that it doesn’t take too long for a popular nickname to emerge. Mind you, if you count Farry’s Folly or Awatea St Albatross then a few already have.
{continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

Stadium battle set for another round (page 4)
By Michelle Sutton
The legal battle over Otago’s controversial stadium looks set to return to court. Queenstown resident Basil Walker says he is appealing the Dunedin High Court decision, and will lodge the appeal this week.
Otago Regional Council counsel Alistair Logan says $12,890 has been fixed as the amount the regional council can seek from Walker.
{continues}

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(page 8)
A $15 million funding agreement between Dunedin City Council and the Government has been signed. The agreement includes a condition that the stadium will be available for games in September 2011 for the Rugby World Cup. The $15 million was paid to DCC on July 1.
{continues}

Your say: Dunedin on Dunedin (page 9)
The good old days: beer at council by Gavin MacDonald, Dunedin
Whistle blows by Gordon Johnston, Opoho
Clarity for Clare by Peter Attwooll, Dunedin
Sick of it by Chris Roy, Dunedin
City Heart by Brian Andrews, St Kilda

D Scene gives up or takes a break…

Slim pickings on the stadium in this week’s edition. As if there isn’t any scandal. Has Fairfax gone down to the 9-day fortnight already. Wake up D Scene.

D scene probably read this story in the ODT. Note D Scene’s lack of investigative research and primary interviews…

### D Scene 3-6-09 (page 9)
Stadium appeals

The controversial $198 million Otago stadium project faces its next day in court tomorrow. Queenstown resident Basil Walker is facing off with the Otago Regional Council about its $37.5 million stadium contribution in the High Court at Dunedin.
{very short item continues}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

### D Scene 3-6-09 (page 10)
Your Say: Stevenson support
Comment by Calvin Oaten, Pine Hill, Dunedin

City councillor Teresa Stevenson’s interview (D Scene, May 27) demonstrates once again the effects of the pervasive culture of control existing in the Town Hall.
{continues}

STS v DCC Court of Appeal 18 August

### ODT Online Tue, 2 Jun 2009
Hearing date for stadium
By Chris Morris

Stop the Stadium has announced a date for its pending Court of Appeal action against the $198 million Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Read more

D Scene, hello – construction stopped or starting?

We read the story. Can’t answer the question.
D Scene, straighten it out please.

### D Scene 20-5-09 (page 12)
Otago Stadium: City council in no rush to have appeal heard
Demo despite wrangles
By Michelle Sutton

Asbestos is being ripped out of buildings on the Otago stadium site, while ongoing High Court wrangles threaten to stop work.
[Guess who…yep, Hall Bros]

In brief:
* Hawkins Construction to start work on piles this Friday
* StS trying to speed up High Court Appeal; DCC in no rush
* StS has lodged urgent request for appeal to be heard
* No news of costs after High Court decision
* Basil Walker has asked for withdrawal of Jim Harland’s affidavit
* ORC “can’t begin to understand” half of Walker’s questions
* ORC’s first payment towards stadium due 1 August – loan not yet secured

{see full story}

Register to read D Scene online at http://fairfaxmedia.newspaperdirect.com/

### D Scene 20-5-09 (page 12)
Soper turns consultant

Former Carisbrook Stadium Trust chief executive Ewan Soper is working out of the office, charging an hourly consultant rate…on a “casual basis”.
{continues}

DCC's funding line continues…

### ODT Online Thu, 14 May 2009
Council will carry on with stadium
By David Loughrey

The Dunedin City Council plans to carry on with its funding of the stadium, despite the two court cases being taken against the project.
Read more

Stop the Stadium’s notice of appeal has been received by the Court of Appeal in Wellington. The case has a six-month time-frame in which to be heard.

Basil Walker’s High Court challenge against the Otago Regional Council’s funding of the project, has a hearing set down for June 4.

More on appeal to Court of Appeal

### ODT Online Sat, 9 May 2009
Group heads to Appeal Court
By Blair Mayston

In an 11th hour bid to block the construction of a stadium at Awatea St, the Stop the Stadium group has sought to have a High Court judgement overturned by the Court of Appeal.

Read more

CORRECTION: In the item, ODT says, “Ms Butcher declined to say last night how this appeal was being funded.” An interesting attribution. We infer ODT means “Ms Butler”.

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From the Notice of Appeal we note:

What do you seek from the Court of Appeal?
An order allowing the appeal and making the following orders:

(a) A declaration that it is unlawful and contrary to section 97 Local Government Act 2002 for the Dunedin City Council to resolve to proceed with the proposed stadium prior to adoption of the 2009/10 – 2018/19 Dunedin City Council Long Term Community Plan.

(b) An Order quashing any decision of the Defendant to proceed with the proposed stadium that is made prior to adoption of the 2009/10 – 2018/19 Dunedin City Council Long Term Community Plan.

The Notice of Appeal is signed by LA Andersen, Counsel for Appellant.
Mr Andersen is not legally aided.

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See also Updated: StS to Court of Appeal

Updated: StS to Court of Appeal

That’s all What if? can reveal for now. News came through earlier today. Cr Walls also alerted our site this evening. I guess we properly wait for things to pass into public domain via the REAL news . . . and as to what’s in the application documents.

Somebody had to get the money up front for this latest action . . .

As I said to my co-author today, no wonder BB is fluffed up this week.

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From the Notice of Appeal:

What are the specific grounds of your appeal?
The Learned Judge erred in finding that the Respondent’s decision to enter into the contract for the construction of a sports stadium at Awatea Street, Dunedin was not prohibited by section 97(1)(d) Local Government Act 1992 as the evidence established that the project had changed significantly from that provided for in the Dunedin City Council Long Term Plan.

Yep, we’ll leave the rest to the newspapers . . .

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StS hasn’t dropped a media release today, no email to members either – same old, don’t tell your members what your governance committee is up to . . . especially, if it’s going to cost a power of money to take the action, and much more if unsuccessful. Sigh.

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Full story from this morning’s ODT here.