The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance can reveal that ATEED hosted 76 ‘stakeholders’ at the 2018 ASB Classic. The high-flying guests were given free tickets,
and across 10 days were wined and dined by 18 ATEED staff on the taxpayer dollar.
Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says, “ATEED staff are paid large salaries to serve ratepayers, not schmooze corporates at the
tennis.”
Guests included two councillors (Penny Hulse and Richard Hills,) two new investor migrants, an unnamed ‘superyacht
owner’, and high-flyers from banks, SkyCity, Callaghan Innovation, the NZ Cruise Association, and more.
“The hosting costs came to $4,467.21, but presumably far more significant were the wages paid to the ATEED staff to
hobnob.”
“This expense is in addition to ATEED’s sponsorship of the event itself. The total sponsorship hasn’t yet been made
public, but we know they gave $175,000 to event organisers in previous years.”
“ATEED seems to think ‘economic development’ is about paying bureaucrats to grease upto chief execs and journalists. But
Auckland ratepayers might see things differently.”
“Next year ATEED should just flog off their spare tickets on TradeMe – or perhaps shout some ordinary ratepayers.”
“You don’t pay your rates so the Council can shout superyacht owners tickets to the tennis. Even the fringe
ratepayer-subsidised youth outfit The Spinoff had three staff get tickets. This is exactly the sort of nonsense wasteful
spending Phil Goff promised to cut.”
Full list of ATEED guests:Client/stakeholder organisationNumber of attendeesInvestor or talent attraction stakeholderANZ5New investor migrant2Stern Yokohama Higashi Co Ltd1Private housing consultant1Innovation stakeholder Fonterra1Callaghan Innovation1Tourism operator Matakana Estate1Keppel Cove Marina1Jet Tour1Superyacht owner1Tourism stakeholder BNZ1Pango Entertainment1Tuwharetoa1South Pacific Pictures1Johnson & Laird1Ngai Tahu1Christchurch Airport1Air New Zealand1NZ Cruise Association3Business growth EKO3602STL1Brisbane Marketing1Holland Partner Group2Media NZME6Fairfax2TVNZ1The Newsroom3Newshub3Bauer Media2The Spinoff3Freelance1Major events partner Te Wananga o Aotearoa2NZ Warriors2Orange Productions1Ticketek1NZ Breakers1Business events partner SkyCity3Auckland Advocate Alliance5The Production & Music Agency2International education Broadspectrum1Education NZ2TOTAL clients/stakeholders73Elected members2Guest of elected member1Total76
ENDS