SDHB/Govt : Physio Pool GRIEF

140 Hanover St [rankedbyreview.co.nz]

Pool upgrade supposed to happen a year ago this month.

### ODT Online Mon, 23 Jan 2017
Grant lost as physio pool work stalls
By Eileen Goodwin
A $120,000 grant has been pulled from the Dunedin physiotherapy pool upgrade because no-one yet knows when — or even if — it will happen. And the Otago Therapeutic Pool Trust has confirmed a second grant, of $100,000, is subject to an extension review and a decision is awaited.
Pool trust secretary-treasurer Neville Martin […] hopes to know more by June, when the Ministry of Health is expected to release a shortlist of site options for the $300 million Dunedin Hospital rebuild.
Read more

“To avoid closure of the pool by the Southern District Health Board, the trust has been required to cover all operating costs since the beginning of 2015.” –Neville Martin

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Related Posts and Comments:
2.10.16 WHO says ‘heritage rules are too restrictive’ —What’s their agenda in the Heritage City
21.8.14 Dirty pool? #SDHB #University
6.8.14 Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

DCC electoral ‘donations and expenses’

Dave Cull: It was his third term as mayor, he had strong opposition, a campaign was developed with Firebrand in Dunedin and “that’s what it cost”.

[correction to Green Party assistance]
### ODT Online Sat, 10 Dec 2016
$0 to $50,000 to be elected
By David Loughrey
Big spending did not necessarily pay off in Dunedin’s October local government elections. While the two biggest spenders, Mayor Dave Cull and deputy mayor Cr Chris Staynes, made it back to the council table with spending of more than $50,321 and $42,677 respectively, Ronald Fung spent $25,234 on an unsuccessful bid, as did Barry Timmings with spending of $20,923. Election donations also made an appearance this year from beyond Dunedin. […] Green candidates Crs Aaron Hawkins and Marie Laufiso, both of who gained council seats, received $4468 each from the Green Party. At the other end of the spending scale successful candidate Cr Jim O’Malley spent nothing.
Read more

DCC Website:
Return of Electoral Donations and Expenses Form – 2016 DCC [template]
Dunedin City Council Final Results
Elected Members’ Register of Interests

█ Awaiting official publication of ‘2016 Electoral Donations and Expenses’.

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Marketing agency Firebrand has previously provided pro bono services to Greater Dunedin. The company also does work for various council departments and CCOs. Owing to certain conditions not all of this work has been competitively tendered. Firebrand is owned by Rebecca and Paul Twemlow.

DCC Official Information:

Firebrand LGOIMA 268652 Attachment 1 (PDF, 3.8 MB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 23/09/2016
Firebrand LFOIMA 268652 Attachment 2 (PDF, 998.0 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 23/09/2016

Firebrand Job Details LGOIMA 259441 (PDF, 141.8 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 4/08/2016
Firebrand Job Details LGOIMA 259441 Attachment 1 (PDF, 35.6 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 4/08/2016
Firebrand Job Details LGOIMA 259441 Attachment 2 (PDF, 845.5 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 4/08/2016
Firebrand Job Details LGOIMA 259441 Attachment 3 (PDF, 65.8 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 4/08/2016
Firebrand Job Details LGOIMA 259441 Attachment 4 (PDF, 73.0 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 4/08/2016
Firebrand Job Details LGOIMA 259441 Attachment 5 (PDF, 673.0 KB)
Request from Hilary Calvert 4/08/2016

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Related Posts and Comments:
23.9.16 DCC responses to LGOIMA requests
20.9.16 Site Notice : Post removal
28.8.16 Cull’s city council is Not democracy : VOTE CULL OUT

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

This post is offered in the public interest.

Dunedin Food Banks: Donations of food needed

Similarly, cash donations for Food Bank purchasing of food are welcome (discuss online banking with Food Bank staff).

ODT 13.6.15 (page 4)

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

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’

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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.

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Dirty pool? #SDHB #University

Dunedin Hospital’s physiotherapy pool has some bent admirers.

GUESS WHO ??

DCC Webmap – subject site

Last week What if? Dunedin received information that the pool’s threatened closure is far from what it seems. A long-term plan has been sighted, in which either the hospital (SDHB) or the University of Otago is shown to be eyeing up the pool building. Note —the pool and a large empty space used for parking immediately adjacent to the University’s student hostel property (at 490 Cumberland Street) are marked for “development”.

It is said the $1 million quoted for the pool’s building upgrade looks like ‘a bogeyman conjured up to make the kids settle down to sleep and stop asking awkward questions’.

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DCC Rates information (click to enlarge):

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Related Posts and Comments:
6.8.14 Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Otago Therapeutic Pool at Dunedin Hospital

Dunedin Physio Pool, 140 Hanover Street [Photo: radionz.co.nz]

● Built in 1946, the first large, purpose-built therapeutic pool in New Zealand.
● About 50,000 visits by users each year, including patients and members of the public.
● Owned by Southern District Health Board but run by the Otago Therapeutic Pool Trust.
● Water temperature is 35degC.

See story by Bruce Munro, Oasis in the city (ODT 8.11.12)

█ Heritage New Zealand – Registration report and history (List no. 7581)

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### ODT Online Wed, 6 Aug 2014
Trust will lobby to keep pool
By Eileen Goodwin
In a bid to stop the closure of Dunedin’s physio pool, the trust that runs the facility will appeal to Southern District Health Board members in Dunedin tomorrow. An Otago Therapeutic Pool Trust deputation will ask the board to overrule management and keep the pool open. The meeting starts at 9am and is open to the public. In his submission, secretary-treasurer Neville Martin will tell members the health board should work with the trust and Dunedin City Council to resolve the financial issues.
Read more

****

SOUTHERN DISTRICT HEALTH BOARD
█ Meeting – Thursday, 7 August 2014, 9.00 am
Board Room, Level 2, West Wing, Main Block,
Wakari Hospital Campus, 371 Taieri Road, Dunedin

Agenda: http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/files/14529_2014080585517-1407185717.pdf

Other meeting information and more about the SDHB here: http://www.southerndhb.govt.nz/pages/boardmeetings/

DONATIONS
At the Otago Daily Times today, in response to a letter from Sue Heap there’s an address for donations:

█ Donations can be made to the Otago Therapeutic Pool Trust, c/o Neville Martin, secretary-treasurer, PO Box 870, Dunedin 9054.

For people who dislike using Cheques, contact Mr Martin (OTPT) via the Health Board for the trust’s bank account number and the correct reference for use.

****

Critic Issue 17, 2014 (excerpt):

█ Read the full article posted by Nina Harrap on Sunday 27 July 2014 at 10:15pm

—

Related Posts and Comments:
21.8.14 Dirty pool? #SDHB #University
1.5.14 Dunedin Hospital buildings SORRY STATE
5.12.13 Swann case: ODHB/SDHB and friends
10.8.13 Garrick Tremain, excellence
15.7.13 Leave Otago white collar criminals ALONE, and other unfairness

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: Edgar’s $1m donation (private sector fundraising)

Received from Bev Butler
Thursday, 10 April 2014 11:31 a.m.

—

From: Bev Butler
To: Eion Edgar [Forsyth Barr]
CC: Carlotte Henle [Kensington Swan]; Ian Telfer [Radio NZ]; Wilma McCorkindale [Fairfax News]; Debbie Jamieson [Southland Times]
Subject: Has Sir Eion Edgar paid his $1 million donation?
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 11:30:19 +1200

Dear Sir Eion

You will recall the reports in The Mirror (10/7/13 – copied below) where you promised to honour your $1 million pledge initially reported in DScene (13/5/09).
As there had been no public reports of you having paid up I decided a few months ago to make an official request under LGOIMA to see if this money had been received. After repeated requests for the Dunedin City Council to respond to my request I have received no response. I thought before making a complaint to the Office of the Ombudsman I would ask you directly if you have paid up. It is in the public interest that this pledge is honoured as it formed part of the push for the decision for the stadium to go ahead. You may also recall the report on the front page of the ODT (March 2007) where Mr Malcolm Farry announced “very excitedly” that he had a one million dollar donation for stadium construction with another two “in the wings”. This was also reported in the National Business Review.

I have prepared a sequence of events to help clarify the situation:

1. Mr Malcolm Farry announces three $1m donations for stadium construction in March 2007.
2. The Marketing Bureau, commissioned by Carisbrook Stadium Trust, tells Dunedin City Council in Dec 2007 that naming rights are worth over $10m.
3. ODT reports Sir Eion Edgar becomes trustee of CST in August 2008.
4. Edgar and Farry announce Forsyth Barr have signed a Heads of Agreement in Jan 2009 and it is reported in NBR that a “substantial cheque” has been signed.
5. Council documents of cashflow projections, peer reviewed by PwC in Feb 2009, show that the naming rights payments have changed from full payment up front to two years in advance – “front-end loading” is the term for this.
6. Edgar announces in DScene in May 2009 he is making a $1m donation to the stadium.
7. Nine changes, as revealed in LGOIMA response from DVML, are made to the Forsyth Barr naming rights agreement then the contract is signed on 2 August 2011…the day after stadium opens. One of the final changes is from yearly in arrears to monthly in arrears.
8. Forsyth Barr makes their first payment on 1 September 2011. They are paying monthly in arrears.
9. Edgar, through Forsyth Barr lawyer in Oct 2012, denies having stated that Forsyth Barr had written a “substantial cheque”. The NBR journalist distinctly remembers the “substantial cheque” comment being made. However, no correction sought from NBR at the time.
10. The naming rights contract is no more than $5m as revealed in 2013 through LGOIMA request to DVML.
11. Edgar claims his $1m donation is part of the naming rights corporate contract in The Mirror in July 2013. The $1m donation still unpaid. None of the other three $1m donations for construction have been paid.
12. Michael Sidey is paying $1 million as part of the Forsyth Barr naming rights. I think what is happening is “double-counting”. Announcing million dollar donations for construction then two of these donations form part of the corporate contract for naming rights. Either [the] two $1 million payments are donations and the naming rights is only $3m, or the naming rights is $5m and the two [$1 million] donations don’t exist. You can’t have it both ways. This “double-counting” trick is what happened in the STS High Court injunction case where they claimed the $15m grant from Central Government was to offset the private funding shortfall AND was also used to offset the increase in land costs. This “double-counting” trick was established in the Court of Appeal.

So, Sir Eion, have you paid the $1 million donation initially pledged for construction of the stadium? If you have paid $1 million as part of the Forsyth Barr naming rights then good on you. That’s between you and the corporate contract signed by Forsyth Barr. I’m sure Forsyth Barr are happy about that. What is of interest to the public is have you paid the $1 million donation pledged in DScene?

As Chairman/Trustee of a number of Charitable Trusts you will be aware of the definition of a donation as recorded on the Charities Commission website. It bears no similarity to a corporate contract. I have copied Charlotte Henley, Forsyth Barr’s lawyer, into this email so she can confirm this definition, in case you still have any doubts.

I hereby reserve all my rights.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

Copied to other interest[ed] media and parties.

Queenstown Mirror 10.7.13 page 1 (detail)
Queenstown Mirror 10.7.13 page 2 (detail)

### DScene 13 May 2009
The Insider: Big questions answered
Mr Generous isn’t slowing down
Winter Games NZ chairman Eion Edgar | Interviewed by Ryan Keen
COMMUNITY-MINDED Queenstown-based businessman Eion Edgar, who retired as New Zealand Olympic Committee president last week and left a $1 million donation, on his support for knighthoods, backing Blis and why he’s not slowing down.
#bookmark page 9 | DScene 13.5.09 page 9 (merge)

[ends]

—

Related Posts and Comments:
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
6.7.09 Eion Edgar on ‘stadium haters’

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Carisbrook Stadium Trust: Financial statements for the year ended 30.6.13

Received via Bev Butler
Wednesday, 12 March 2014 1:48 p.m.

The CST’s latest financial accounts – link to full financial statements and a copy of the summary below [click to enlarge].

Source:
[enter in your browser] *Carisbrook Stadium CT 30.6.13 signed Accounts.pdf*

Download: Carisbrook Stadium CT 30.6.13 signed Accounts (PDF, 255 KB)

For more, enter the terms *cst*, *csct*, *carisbrook*, *charitable*, *trust*, or *farry* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: Accountability, paper trail leads unavoidably to NEWS

Stadium under construction [photo via espnscrum.com]

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Comments received.

Bev Butler
Submitted on 2013/07/30 at 2:25 pm

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8981153/Phone-records-given-to-inquiry
Parliament’s speaker, David Carter:
“I view any actions that may put at risk journalists’ ability to report very seriously.”

Both Sir Eion Edgar and Sir Julian Smith have some explaining to do as to their “actions” in preventing the reporting of the information contained in the press release below which one of the ODT reporters contacted me about on 3 July 2013, asked me questions, then nothing being published in the ODT.

PRESS RELEASE
“Philanthropist” reneges on promised $1m donation
Full independent enquiry sought

The deceptions surrounding the Forsyth Barr Stadium continue to be revealed by official documents released on 11 June 2013.

The public, on many occasions raised doubts that the promises of private funding for construction of the stadium, had been met, but were assured by Mr Malcolm Farry, Chair of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust as reported in NBR and ODT 2007 that in fact several substantial donations had been promised. Indeed he went so far to tell the public that he had promises of three individual donations of $1 million each to be put to the costs of construction. Sir Eion Edgar also confirmed in DScene in 2009 that he would be making a donation of $1m.

That, as has now been revealed officially, was untrue.

It was also untrue as Mr Farry claimed when leading the project, that advance ticket or product sales revenue could be counted as construction capital. This was nothing other, as many ratepayers pointed out, simply advance operational revenue which could not be charged in the future. While Mr Farry denied this, the PricewaterhouseCoopers investigation found that there was little or no capital raised from ‘private funding’ for construction.

The relevance of this should not be lost when the evidence supplied to the High Court in Christchurch by the Carisbrook Stadium Trust through the DCC also stated that substantial private donations had been made for construction. At the time of the Stop The Stadium court case in April 2009, Mr Farry had stated publicly that more than $30m of the required $45m had already been contracted in private funding for construction of the stadium. It appears that evidence in the High Court case was also not truthful.

The role played by Forsyth Barr and its Chair, Sir Eion Edgar also come directly under a brighter spotlight from the release of the documentation. Sir Eion Edgar promised a substantial donation of $1m as reported in DScene 2009, but again this has proven not to be true. But this lack of philanthropy also extended to an obscuring of the facts surrounding the naming rights of the stadium. Despite Sir Eion Edgar claiming in the National Business Review (29/01/09) that a “substantial cheque” had been written for these rights, and The Marketing Bureau commissioned by the CST reporting to council the naming rights were worth $10m, the fact was that instead the stadium was named after his company for a period of two and a half years before any revenue was received. It has already been reported in the media that the naming rights were no more than $5m. An upfront substantial sum in advance reported in PwC peer reviews was somehow altered to a much lesser sum in monthly arrears payments which didn’t begin until late 2011.

Sir Edgar also had a significant role as President in his connections with the Otago Rugby Football Union when a fundraising function for the ORFU in August 2011 at the new Forsyth Barr Stadium defaulted in its payments to the Dunedin City Council leaving ratepayers to pick up the tab for booze, food, hireage and cleaning while the ORFU pocketed the gross income less a substantial organisational fee paid to the wife of the Deputy Chair of the ORFU, Laurie Mains.

While the PwC investigation was not intended to be a forensic audit of all financial matters surrounding the stadium, sufficient grounds now exist for such a full independent investigation to be carried out, and it is difficult to see just why this should be resisted unless some have got matters to try and continue to conceal. Doubts have also been expressed over the laxity of the billing and payment processes whereby blanket monthly CST accounts with no detail were passed for payment by the then CEO of the Dunedin City Council, Jim Harland, and there remains uncertainty over the validity of many of the expenses and other monies claimed for and paid by the ratepayers of the City.

[Response 1]

Elizabeth
Submitted on 2013/07/30 at 2:46 pm

Bev, quite apart from the content of the Press Release, are you saying the ODT journalist who contacted you about the release was lined up to do a story based on the content of the press release? Or that the editorial team did not support the reporter and canned the story as filed? Or for the newspaper’s own reasons there was never a story?! In other words, something of a spying mission took place?

Media can choose whether or not to cite the content of press releases in whole or in part.

Should a newspaper decline to reference a press release in its general news coverage, surely that leaves the writers of the release free to pay for an advertising statement. This is exactly what has been required with The Press in Christchurch over the fight to restore the Christ Church Cathedral – paid advertising by Cathedral advocates tied to education of the Press editor underlining the editorial bias which has run to the benefit of the Bishop and the CPT. We consider The Press’s stance deliberate to force use of paid advertising. The Press has softened since being SPOKEN TO.

****

[Response 2]

Russell Garbutt
Submitted on 2013/07/30 at 8:25 pm

Bev’s post needs as wide a circulation as possible and I would urge any readers to pass on the URL of this post to as many of their friends as possible, but it is as sure as God made little green apples, that the ODT will neither investigate nor publish anything that is detrimental to the interests of those that have certain influence and connections. I wonder if Sir Julian would be willing to show his phone records? Particularly those from the Central Otago region?

All of the material that Bev mentions regarding the naming rights is backed up by documentation – in fact so much of what Bev is talking about is now being played out in National politics with the Henry inquiry and Vance’s phone records. The story has to be dragged out before it is grudgingly admitted that a great wrong was done. And even then the perpetrators can’t get their story straight.

This is what I mean by accountability in many ways. Many have claimed that deceit, lies and obfuscation were just part of the normal business around the CST, DCC, ORFU and associated parties and it has also been suggested that this culture of deceit and lies extended to the High Court. Who am I to argue that this was not the case? But the same people’s names turn up time and time again. Reported are Farry, who continues to harangue from the side-lines, Edgar promising much and apparently confused between what is a donation and what is part of a payment for a sweetheart deal with the organisation of which he was part, or Harland, in the middle authorising payments on behalf of the ratepayers to the CST – a private Trust that remains a closed window.

And who is going to push for exposure of all the facts? We should be forever grateful for Bev’s assiduous work in prying out the necessary documentation and proof of what many have alleged for years. I can only hope that Bev Butler is, within the near future, able to ensure that any serious wrong-doing by those connected with the greatest waste of ratepayer funds, is put forward in a high profile way.

And if it can be shown in a separate jurisdiction that the allegations are well-founded – and I’m sure it can by the documentation that exists in private and on public record, then hopefully these people will be made accountable. But I’m not holding my breath.

****

[Response 3]

Bev Butler
Submitted on 2013/07/30 at 10:11 pm

Elizabeth, to now answer your questions – just briefly for now.
“The Edgar Story” was first published on Stuff News on Wednesday 3 July 2013. About an hour later the story was “pulled”.
Rarely does a story get “pulled” – it is generally due to major factual errors or a threat of defamation. As I know the information was correct then I assumed the latter.
I wrote to Fairfax management then emailed Forsyth Barr/Edgar’s lawyers. Two days later the story was published in The Mirror – a Central Otago Fairfax publication.
Interestingly, also on Wednesday 3 July an ODT reporter contacted me, questioning me about the Stuff News item. The reporter wanted to know who else I had sent the press release to. At the time I thought this was unusual – what did that have to do with reporting the news? I suspected that someone was wanting to do damage control behind the scenes. A week later I then heard from a good source that this was the case.
What really concerns me, apart from the serious issues in the press release, is the behind-the-scenes manipulation of ‘freedom of the press’. Dunedin citizens are no longer able to rely on the local media for local news. The damage done by this behind-the-scenes manipulation is dangerous. How this can be allowed to happen in a democratic society should be a concern for all in Dunedin. I don’t blame the reporter as he/she would have been instructed to question me.

[ends]

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Related Posts and Comments:
18.7.13 ODT won’t touch Fairfax story
3.7.13 [Pulled!] Call for Dunedin stadium cash
24.12.12 A Christmas Tale
7.6.12 Stadium: Forsyth Barr naming rights
6.7.09 Eion Edgar on ‘stadium haters’

ODT Online:
11.5.12 $100m hotel for Dunedin waterfront [Edgar support]
11.5.12 Harbour hotel proposed for Dunedin

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

ODT won’t touch Fairfax story

Supposing Sir E rang Sir J. What did they talk about. Parties?

#bookmark page 1
#bookmark page 2

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### DScene 13 May 2009
The Insider: Big questions answered
Mr Generous isn’t slowing down
Winter Games NZ chairman Eion Edgar | Interviewed by Ryan Keen
COMMUNITY-MINDED Queenstown-based businessman Eion Edgar, who retired as New Zealand Olympic Committee president last week and left a $1 million donation, on his support for knighthoods, backing Blis and why he’s not slowing down. #bookmark page 9

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Related Posts and Comments:
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
6.7.09 Eion Edgar on ‘stadium haters’

ODT Online:
11.5.12 $100m hotel for Dunedin waterfront [Edgar support]
11.5.12 Harbour hotel proposed for Dunedin

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Delta, Carisbrook, Fubar Stadium —Councillors “weak”, or worse

ODT Letter to the editor 15.7.13 (page 8)

—

Related Posts and Comments:
13.7.13 New Zealand: Salmond on democracy
12.7.13 Hudson, DCC (ex DCHL)
12.7.13 Delta Utility Services Ltd, missing column . . .
10.7.13 Stadium: Edgar will honour $1M personal pledge to project
9.7.13 Delta Utility Services Ltd, full investigation needed
7.7.13 DCHL changes lack transparency —where’s the report, Shale?
4.7.13 Carisbrook: DCC losses
3.7.13 [Pulled!] Call for Dunedin stadium cash
29.6.13 Audit NZ and OAG clean bill of health —Suspicious!
27.6.13 State of the City —DCC or Dunedin?
20.6.13 Stadium: DVML, DVL miserable losers! #grandtheftdebt
8.6.13 Stadium: Insurmountable debt but gosh, look at our numbers!
28.5.13 Carisbrook: Auditor-General #fails Dunedin residents and ratepayers
27.5.13 Carisbrook and Leith flood protection
23.5.13 Carisbrook: Calder Stewart to demo Dunedin’s historic stadium
11.5.13 Stadium: Truth, usual whitewash or prosecution ?

*Use search box at right to find out more.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: Edgar will honour $1M personal pledge to project

KUDOS to Dunedin’s Bev Butler for putting the pressure on !!!

Thanks to Wilma McCorkindale (Fairfax) for professional follow-up

#bookmark page 1
#bookmark page 2

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### DScene 13 May 2009
The Insider: Big questions answered
Mr Generous isn’t slowing down
Winter Games NZ chairman Eion Edgar | Interviewed by Ryan Keen
COMMUNITY-MINDED Queenstown-based businessman Eion Edgar, who retired as New Zealand Olympic Committee president last week and left a $1 million donation, on his support for knighthoods, backing Blis and why he’s not slowing down. #bookmark page 9

Related Post and Comments:
3.7.13 [Pulled!] Call for Dunedin stadium cash

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

[Pulled!] Call for Dunedin stadium cash

via google

### stuff.co.nz Wed, 3 July 2013 [circa 4:00pm]
Dunedin stadium fund needs Sir Eion Edgar’s pledge
By Wilma McCorkindale
The pressure is on Otago philanthropist Sir Eion Edgar to stump up with the $1 million donation he pledged to Dunedin’s stadium.

—

Link was live 2 hours ago… story pulled. Oh dear.

[That’s a major chunk of money promised, philanthropically speaking. An explanation and clarification is needed for the donation that did not eventuate. We’re waiting.]

—

Copy supplied by Anonymous
Wednesday, 3 July 2013 9:43 p.m.

[screenshot]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: 3news.co.nz – Eion Edgar (reimaged by What if)

ODT 150th birthday bash

Updated 15 Nov 2011 at 1.14 pm
Received from Ahmad:

On Saturday night I went to the Otago Daily Times “Big Night In” – a “free community concert” hosted by the Otago Daily Times as part of their 150th anniversary celebrations. Like many who attended I enjoyed much of the night. Of course when you haven’t paid anything you can’t really complain, but that’s exactly where this story begins.

Promoted for months by the Otago Daily Times as their big birthday bash, entry to this “free community concert” was by way of gold coin donation to charity. All good. That is until you look at which charities the money went to.

On Friday 26 August the ODT said that “the concert is free, but ticketed, with gold-coin donations being collected for the KidsCan charitable trust”. On Saturday 1 October the ODT said “entry is by free ticket only. Gold-coin donations will be accepted at the gate for the KidsCan charitable trust and Lions club”. Subsequently, the information being provided stated that “the gold coin donation will go to three areas: 50% KidsCan, 10% Dunedin North Lions Club, 40% Big Night In Charities Ltd”. And finally the admission from the ODT that has me most concerned on Saturday 5 November and repeated on Saturday 12 November that “entry is free, with gold coin donations collected at the gate. The KidsCan child cancer fund will get 50% of money collected, Dunedin Lions service clubs will get 10%, and 40% will go to Big Night In Charities Limited, a not-for-profit company, to help offset the cost of the concert.”

Why on earth should those attending a “free community concert” hosted by the ODT as part of their birthday celebrations be helping to “offset the cost of the concert”. With sponsors including Deloitte (associate sponsor) and the Dunedin City Council (partner and contributor of $70,000 of ratepayers’ money towards this event), surely one should be able to assume that the full costs would have been met by those promoting this “free community concert”?

And who exactly are “The Big Night In Charities Limited” anyway? They are a registered company with the two Directors listed as Doug Kamo (the Artistic Director/Producer of ODT’s Big Night In), and Stuart Walker (Musical Director of Big Night In). James Smith (ODT Circulation Manager) says it is a “not-for-profit company”, and that “money allocated to BNICL is used to help offset costs of the free community concert” (direct quote).

Now I fully appreciate that not every dollar I donate to any chosen charity will actually reach those in need due to running costs of the organisation. However in this case I do not believe the ODT have been completely up front about the funding for this event.

Despite what the ODT had been publicising for months, the concert was not actually free. It was low cost, certainly, but not free, given that part of my entry donation was to offset the concert costs. I (like everyone else) believed that I was attending a concert paid for by the Otago Daily Times and other sponsors, and making a genuine donation to charity as part of the condition of entry. Is giving money to a not-for-profit company to stage the concert a true “donation to charity”? I believe most would consider it not to be.

I believe that the Otago Daily Times owes its readership an explanation about the true nature of funding for this event. I feel deceived by the marketing of this concert and I know of others who feel similarly. I have spoken to representatives from The Southern Trust and Otago Community Trust to pass on my concerns and they seemed genuinely surprised by these revelations. Both appeared to believe they were contributing to a local organisation – which technically they were because Big Night In Charities Ltd is registered to a Dunedin address.

The Otago Daily Times should also, in my opinion, reveal to the people of Otago where the money donated to KidsCan will be spent. On Saturday night the $12,000 cheque was presented to a KidsCan representive who the MC announced was from Auckland. Will the money be spent in our region? And if not – why not? Why would the newspaper serving the Otago region for 150 years use grants from local charities (The Southern Trust, Otago Community Trust, and Bendigo Valley Foundation) to hold a big birthday party only to raise funds for a charity to spend outside of the region? Surely it would be fitting for such funds to be spent in the region that the ODT serves?

I don’t mean to be a 150th anniversary party pooper but these questions do need to be addressed. I have no competing interests to declare and am simply a proud Otago resident and long time reader of the ODT.

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Related Posts:
12.11.11 The little horrors 2
30.7.11 LGOIMA request – stadium event

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Donations – the quest for clarification

The following correspondence was received from Bev Butler today.

ODT 28/2/07 front page as follows:

Man offers $1 million donation
By Allison Rudd
One person has offered a $1 million donation towards a multipurpose stadium to replace Carisbrook, the chairman of Carisbrook Stadium Trust, Malcolm Farry, says.
He told a public meeting, attended by about 120 people last night, he had received “very significant news today about one huge donation and two others in the wings” which could help meet the $188 million cost.
After the meeting, he said the $1 million donation was from a man whom he could not yet name.
The man had indicated he had associates who were also prepared to talk to the trust about making similar sized donation.
Mr Farry said he was “very excited” about the level of support being offered for the proposal, particularly yesterday’s development.
“Let’s say it made my day.”

—

Letter to editor (published 22/02/10 Otago Daily Times). The italicised parts were abridged.

Friday 29th January 2010

Dear Editor

It is now nearly three years since it was reported in the ODT (28/2/07) that Malcolm Farry, Chair of Carisbrook Stadium Trust, told a public meeting he had received “very significant news about one huge donation ($1 million) and two others (similar size) in the wings”. Mr Farry said the $1 million donation was from a man whom he could not name yet. Mr Farry said he was “very excited” and it had “made my day”.
Maybe it is now time for Mr Farry to reveal the identities of these alleged donors and let us know if the money has been banked.
Maybe Mr Farry could also give us an update on all donations received for the stadium.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

Macolm Farry’s response in today’s ODT:
“As at February 2010, Carisbrook Stadium Trust has secured private-sector funding in excess of $30 million in memberships and sponsorship. The trust does not publish the names of its members, sponors [sic] or donors without their agreement. Last year, we announced the head naming rights sponsor, Forsyth Barr, and we will announce further sponsors in future when they elect to do so.”

National Business Review (3/03/07) by Mark Peart
“Two individuals had pledged about $1 million each to the project since learning of the release of the trust’s feasibility report and “master plan” on February 19.
Several other potential donors had also expressed interest in making major, but unspecified, contributions to the project, should the trust’s preferred option be accepted, Mr Farry said.”

—

From: bev butler [mailto:bevkiwi@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, 22 February 2010 11:19 a.m.
To: mfarry@farrygroup.co.nz
Cc: murray kirkness; david loughrey; chris morris; craig page; michelle sutton; Mike Houlahan (DSC); david williams; robert smith; nbreditor; nbrnewseditor; emma lancaster; katrina bennett; pete hodgson; clare curran; john key; rodney hide; bill english; metiria turei; michael woodhouse; mark hotton; darren burden
Subject: Dunedin Stadium alleged donors: Serious Questions left unanswered (Note change in Mr Farry’s email address)
Importance: High

{private address and phone number deleted -Eds}

Monday 22nd February 2010

Dear Mr Farry

Your response, after three weeks, to my ‘letter to the editor’ (copied below) is completely inadequate.
Firstly, you have avoided responding to the reasonable request for an update of donations. It was revealed in October 2008 (Sunday Star Times) that the donations total was $30. That was the last update we received – upon inquiry.

You have also avoided responding to my query as to whether the several $1 million alleged donations have been banked.
Remember we are not talking about ‘products or sponsors’, but ‘donors’. That is what my query was about and that is what you avoided responding to.

I believe the public have a right to know if the donors actually existed to begin with and if so, do their promised donations, which you so excitedly announced in March 2007 (ODT and NBR), still stand? And if so, why haven’t the donors been happy for their names to be made public now that the stadium is being built? Surely their excitement would be as great as yours and they would proudly want their names out there supporting the project and thereby assist the marketing programme for the stadium.

If these alleged donors have withdrawn their promised donations, why have the public not been informed?

I note in the DCC’s recent media release (19/02/10) the Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust’s (CSCT) responsibility is quite clear, namely:
“CSCT will continue to operate as a charitable trust to solicit and receive donations and distribute them in accordance with the purposes of its trust deed.”

Also would you please confirm or deny that these alleged donations were used to help secure the $15 million ‘gift’ from Central Government for the shortfall in private funding?

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler
Former President
Stop The Stadium Inc

—

From: mfarry@farrygroup.co.nz
To: bevkiwi@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Dunedin Stadium alleged donors: Serious Questions left unanswered [Note change in Mr Farry’s email address]
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 16:33:44 +1300

Good Afternoon Ms. Butler,

While you have a series of questions we have not, however, conducted the fundraising in the manner that your enquiries would suggest.

There is no difference between donations, sponsorships, sale of product and funds raised. All have a donations component included. Your wish to distinguish between donors, sponsors and purchasers of product indicates a misunderstanding on your part as to the manner of our fundraising

There are several amounts in excess of $1M. As stated in earlier communications, acknowledgements of the individuals and organisations will be made public on the agreement of the parties to so do.

Parties involved have been very supportive of and excited about the project and to have gathered in excess of $30M under the circumstances and in the time involved is quite remarkable. I am sure this has never been equalled in our region and perhaps not even in New Zealand.

It seems unfortunate that you consider it necessary to continue your onslaught against the project when, surely, it would be in the interests of Dunedin and Otago if you put your energies into ensuring the project is a success.

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Farry
Chair,
CST.

NB The report of $30 being received was in error.
The claims that the Stadium would be paid for from private funds is incorrect and mischievous.

—

From: bev butler [mailto:bevkiwi@hotmail.com]
Sent: Friday, 5 March 2010 9:56 a.m.
To: malcolm farry
Subject: RE: Dunedin Stadium alleged donors: Serious Questions left unanswered

Friday 5th March 2010

Dear Mr Farry

You have stated in your reply the following:

“There is no difference between donations, sponsorships, sale of product and funds raised. All have a donations component included. Your wish to distinguish between donors, sponsors and purchasers of product indicates a misunderstanding on your part as to the manner of our fundraising.
There are several amounts in excess of $1M.”

I agree with you, Mr Farry, I do not understand the manner of your fundraising as outlined above. Would you please be so kind as to clarify what is the percentage of the donation component which you claim your products and sponsorships contain? A good definition of donation is as follows: A payment is a “donation” if the payer receives no direct benefit in return.

I would also appreciate a direct answer to my original questions as to whether the several amounts of $1m are in fact ‘donations’ and have these ‘donations’ been banked? This shouldn’t be difficult to answer directly. Quite simply: Are the several amounts of $1m actual ‘donations’? Yes or No. Have these donations been banked? Yes or No.

I also note that you have not responded to this question either: “Also would you please confirm or deny that these alleged (ie $1m) donations were used to help secure the $15 million ‘gift’ from Central Government for the shortfall in private funding?”

My continuing interest in the project is purely to keep everything as transparent as possible. Surely you have no objection to this? Surely this could not be perceived as ‘mischievous’ – a word you have used more than once when faced by close questioning by people of the CST/DCC’s affairs.

As for the $30 donation you now say is in error, Mr Hedderwick did confirm to me back in 2008 in an email that the $30 was not a mistake. Mr Hedderwick, Commercial Manager of CST, and Mr Ewan Soper, former CEO of CST, both acknowledged the $30 donation and it was reported in both the Sunday Star Times and then the ODT. The CST have also reported it to the Charities Commission in their Financial Statements.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

—

From: mfarry@farrygroup.co.nz
To: bevkiwi@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Dunedin Stadium alleged donors: Serious Questions left unanswered
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:04:28 +1300

Good Afternoon Ms Butler,

I have provided you with the answers to your questions Any further elaboration would be unproductive.

Monies announced publicly are secured by legal contracts and payment protocols are a part of those agreements.

We have publicly documented the quantum of funds. They are in excess of $30 million at this stage These amounts have been verified. I fail to understand how we can be more transparent than that. Attempts to do that in the past have resulted in misunderstandings such as the thirty dollars you mention. I am sure that nobody could possibly believe that we have only raised this amount

For the record and as I have stated previously there are amounts contracted where the quantum is for $1M and greater

Yours sincerely,

Malcolm Farry

—

From: bevkiwi@hotmail.com
To: mfarry@farrygroup.co.nz
Subject: RE: Dunedin Stadium alleged donors: Serious Questions left unanswered
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:19:54 +1300

Dear Mr Farry

You have not answered my questions about the $1m donations you personally announced, very excitedly, through the media three years ago.
Your persistent avoidance in confirming whether the $1m donations exist is unproductive and can only lead me to one obvious conclusion that the donations do not exist and they probably never did.

Your description of the original $1m ‘donations’ has transformed to ‘amounts’ then to ‘quantums’.
I find this latest description quite apt considering that in Quantum Physics a “quantum is the minimum unit of any physical entity involved in an interaction” (Wikipedia) ie virtually non-existent in the physical world. Note that donations are physical gifts involving the transfer of actual money from one or several sources to another.

Now that you have confirmed that the several $1m donations are not donations, you must realise you are now in a moral quandary.

Your plea below for me to put my “energies into ensuring the project is a success” is curious. You have always asserted that the stadium will be an unqualified success.
I take it that even you now have doubts.

Yours sincerely
Bev Butler

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Private sector funding (donations) to stadium construction

One thing is certain, Malcolm Farry is confused.

### ODT Online Mon, 26 Sep 2011
$2.75 million donated to stadium: manager
By David Loughrey
The vexed issue of the level of donations the Forsyth Barr Stadium has attracted may have to stay vexed, the matter complicated by various interpretations of the definition of “donation”. The matter has been controversial since early on in the project, when, in 2008, Dunedin Venues Management Ltd commercial manager Guy Hedderwick suggested just $30 had been received. The matter was raised again at a recent Dunedin City Council finance, strategy and development meeting, and he then raised a figure of $330,000. Asked recently to clear up the issue, he said that related to just one donation. Instead, the total of donations stood at $2.75 million.

[Carisbrook Stadium Trust (CST) chairman Malcolm Farry] noted DVML has taken the total of private sector funding raised through the sale of seating packages and sponsorship towards $50 million.

Mr Hedderwick said donations had already been included in the private sector funding total for the stadium, which stood at $42.8 million in August.
Read more

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Stadium: Private sector funding

UPDATED

The Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust (CST) states that sources of project funding for design and construction of Forsyth Barr Stadium include:

Private Sector Funding of $31 million (from a total of $45.5 million).

Last week, Guy Hedderwick, commercial manager at Dunedin Venues Management Ltd (DVML), in reply to a question from Cr Lee Vandervis confirmed that the donations total was still “around $330,000”.

Only $330,000 raised of the tens of millions required.

Meanwhile, Dunedin City Council has been forced to raise debt to meet the massive shortfall and is required to pay interest on this debt.

The Carisbrook Stadium Charitable Trust has serious work to do.

—

The Trust, at its Funders webpage, states the University of Otago will contribute $10.0 million of project funding for stadium design and construction.

Cr Lee Vandervis says “My clear understanding is that the University of Otago is not allowed to fund such things as the stadium, and that not one single dollar of university funding has built the stadium. They have merely built a university building on adjoining land next door.

“While I was on Council in 2007, Malcolm Farry, chairman of the Carisbrook Stadium Trust, said there would be $10m worth of ‘synergies’ between the University Plaza building and the stadium, but when I questioned harder these synergies turned out to be bull-dust.”

Cr Vandervis might care to check the construction and or architectural synergy between the stadium and the university building, and how the associated costs were met.

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Animal welfare #eqnz #chch

The following services are available. However, it was reported on TV3’s Nightline tonight that Christchurch animal welfare services are overwhelmed by the number of animals – many not microchipped – they have received for care. They are hoping to move some animals to alternative shelters and facilities in other centres.

Animal Control
For lost or found dogs please contact Animal Control on 021 240 8310 or visit 10 Metro Place – Open 8:00am to 6:00pm #eqnz

Microchipped animals
There is now a good microchip register in New Zealand.

Paw Justice
Text “HELP” to 4662 to donate $3 to Paw Justice towards pet food for Chch Animal Quake victims ♥

Pets on the Net
Pets on the Net http://www.petsonthenet.co.nz/ is working with the SPCA to save lives, this is a free community service. Earthquake: Petsonthenet is the nationwide database for lost and found pets, as phone service resumes please report and search for lost, found or deceased pets here. Phone reports will be accepted for those without internet access on 07 868 5581

SPCA animal emergencies
@RNZSPCA Canterbury SPCA animal emergencies 9am-4pm call 03 349 7057 ext 201 or 205; after hours call 03 366 3886 #eqnz

SPCA pet listings
Information about animal welfare and lost/found pets is available on the SPCA NZ website http://bit.ly/he8SKU #eqnz #chch

Trade Me pet listings
Go to the Trade Me home page for information on missing and found pets.

Vets Clinics
The majority of Christchurch vets clinics are now operating #chch
The veterinary clinic in Hornby is operating an After Hours service – the clinic has temporarily relocated to: Hornby Vet Centre, 7 Tower Street, Hornby
Phone 03 366 1052
Weekdays 7pm to 8am
Weekends are Saturday from 12pm thru to 8am on Monday

****

@Baxter_man (RT @OtagoLad) A foto of my new mate Sammyman Sams Nose – new @blipfoto journal entry – http://bit.ly/eWSGJD

—

Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

StS: 'Not the end'…

### D Scene 29-4-09 (page 4)
Stadium opponents watching closely
By Michelle Sutton

Stadium opponents are issuing a warning to Dunedin City Council, despite losing its High Court battle. Stop the Stadium’s High Court bid to block the Otago stadium was turned down by Justice Lester Chisholm who said it didn’t get “past first base”.
{story continues}

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

### D Scene 29-4-09 (page 4)
Stop the Stadium’s shy backers

Anonymous donations from publicity shy businessmen are helping fund Stop the Stadium’s legal fight with Dunedin City Council.
{story continues}

Other stories in D Scene:

‘Long-lasting legacy’ – McCully (page 4)
Re-tender for locals – Farry (page 5)
Redundant Keith’s a huge stadium fan (page 5)
Sukhi’s call to arms (page 10)
Word of the week: underwrite (page 11)
Letter: Don’t spoil oil – Jeff Dickie (page 11)