Yep, you read that right. That title is the headline of a story on the NBR website (subscribers only). Essentially the story is that the contract for organising the opening ceremony and some other events have gone to an Australian company ahead of several New Zealand companies who were bidding. This apparently includes the firm who are responsible for the Tourism NZ giant rugby ball that has been touring the globe promoting the Cup.
This is a shocker. As a country we pride ourselves on having some of the best creative talent in the world, with a proven track record of delivery. The creative sector is a growing and important part of our cultural and economic life. Here was a chance to showcase that talent to the world at the fourth largest sports tournament in the world, and its gone off-shore.
The other element to the story is that the Minister’s paw prints are apparently all over the decision. This comes as no surprise. His reputation gained in the 90s for interfering in operations (think Tourism) is back again. Stories are rife from MFAT about his role, in addition to his part in the Party Central debacle.
This certainly re-enforces my view that giving McCully the right to veto or overturn the decision of the authority being set up to make urgent decisions around the Rugby World Cup (as the Bill before Parliament effectively does) is absolutely the wrong decision and potentially dangerous to the success of the event.
UPDATE: 3News are reporting that Martin Sneddon is saying that a final decision has not been made yet, but that creative content of the ceremony will be mostly if not entirely from NZ. McCully’s office are telling NBR he was not involved in “awarding” contracts.
