February 20, 2013
Ngāti Whatua dragged into Key convention centre sham
The former Chief Executive of Ngāti Whatua ō Orakei Corporate says the Government should pay back the money the tribe spent putting together a proposal for an Auckland Convention Centre.
Tiwana Tibble, who is now an independent company director, says an Auditor General's report released yesterday shows the deal the Government wants to do with casino operator Sky City is tainted.
The report shows that months before the Government called for expressions of interest in building a convention centre, Prime Minister John Key had been talking to the casino operator about its proposal to expand the convention facilities in exchange for increased pokie numbers.
Mr Tibble says the outcome was fixed, and Ngāti Whatua was dragged into a sham.
“The longer it took, the more suspicious it became but they kept on saying or that there was a lot of process and issues. However, the reality was, as we can see from the report, they were talking directly to Sky City and they needed to try and put the heat on Sky City by saying that their really liked that there was three other applications. So we got views to some extent on that process”. Mr Tibble says.
Tiwana Tibble says internationally convention centres only break even operationally, so governments usually put up the capital to build them through direct grants or tax breaks.
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