Eden Park thanks Auckland councillors for their supposed 'support' for concerts at the venue, offering them free hospitality to watch the first concert. But the invite hasn't gone down well with some, as Matthew Scott reports.
An offer of a free ticket for councillors to the first concert at Eden Park, by Kiwi super group Six60, has raised eyebrows for its suggestion Auckland Council played a role in the independent planning decision to allow concerts at the neighbourhood venue.
The Eden Park Trust chief executive Nick Sautner invited councillors to "be a part of history" at Six60’s April 24 concert, a first for the venue after a controversial application process which pitted the stadium against some of its close neighbours.
In his invitation to councillors, Sautner claimed the concert "would not have been possible without your support". This, despite the permission for concerts coming from an independent panel.
Some Auckland councillors who received the invitation will not attend.
Cathy Casey pointed out the council hadn't endorsed concerts at the park, but had previously made a separate no-strings-attached $10m grant to the Eden Park Trust, something she had voted against. “It’s not like being invited by a Council Controlled Organisation to an event funded by Council or held at a council-owned facility. This is an invitation by a private business to thank its grant givers. I want no part in that."
Councillor Chris Darby said he had received invitations to an international cricket match as well as Six60 from the Eden Park Trust, but had declined both. "In late 2020, I decided to take extra care when being courted by EPT and any associated stakeholders. As a consequence I will not be accepting any generosity from any party related to Eden Park.
"That position will remain so until such time as council reviews the future of Eden Park in the context of a new stadia strategy.
“The stakes are high and on no account do I intend to risk compromising my decision-making ability, through perceived or actual conflicts of interest,” he said.
Auckland Council and the Government have been negotiating who should control the appointment of trustees to Eden Park Trust - with Mayor Phil Goff revealing at a March finance committee meeting that sports minister Grant Robertson had told him central government would hand over appointments of 'directors' to the council.
Goff received the Eden Park Trust invitation to the concert on April 24 but would not be there, his office said.
The invitation for councillors, coupled with the explicit mention of their 'support' for the concerts, has raised the suspicions of Eden Park Neighbours Association president Mark Donnelly, who said he has found the entire council involvement in the venue deal “deplorable”.
“It has been obvious that the Eden Park Trust has been courting councillors over a number of years to win political support,” he said. “That’s included hosting councillors in Eden Park’s box at events.”
Donnelly is seriously concerned to see Goff voice his approval for concerts at the site ahead of the final independent commissioners' decision, and said keeping undue influence from council out of processes like these was important.
“Now that council has taken over the loans, and looks to be appointing trustees in the future, proper independence is crucial.”
Local councillor Christine Fletcher would also not attend, but wished "Eden Park well in in its quest to become financially sustainable and support concerts as part of this journey on the basis they are well managed and cause as little disruption to the community as possible."
A pro-Eden Park councillor, Daniel Newman of Manurewa, questioned the invitation's suggestion the advent of concerts could not have gone ahead without councillor support.
“Actually, it did,” he said. “The hearing was not a political decision, it was a planning and resource consent decision independent of councillors.” He wished Eden Park well for the concert but could not attend as he would be rising early the next day, Anzac Day, for a dawn service.
Another councillor, Richard Hills, told Newsroom he had asked the Eden Park Trust to clarify what it meant by the claim concerts could not have happened without his support and been told this was the same line it had used in its correspondence with all stakeholders and invitees, rather than specifically to the councillors.
Most of the councillors approached by Newsroom said they noted any such invitations that they had accepted in a declaration of interests filed and made public.
The invitation follows approval for Eden Park to stage six concerts a year as of right - without having to seek consents each time - following a hearing last November.
Previously Six60 played at Western Springs stadium, owned by the public through then Regional Facilities Auckland, which reaped the revenue on behalf of ratepayers from the 50,000 crowd sellout.
Eden Park Trust did not respond to Newsroom's request for comment.
Despite predictions last month of an early sellout for the Six60 concert which is now 12 days away, tickets were still freely available Monday lunchtime on Ticketmaster for groups of six in both the $149 general admission space on the Eden Park turf or in the stands at between $80 and $140.
