Clark hits back at Sir Ray’s taunt

A war of words has erupted between former prime minister Helen Clark and inventor and philanthropist Sir Ray Avery over a planned charity concert at Eden Park.

Avery hopes $4 million can be raised from the concert, and linked fundraising events, to supply incubators he invented for premature babies in developing countries. But planning approval is required for the event to go ahead, which has reignited opposition from some locals to Eden Park hosting concerts.

Clark, who lives near the Sandringham stadium, has made a submission opposing the event, which will now be the subject of an Environment Court hearing.

Talking to Stuff on Wednesday, Avery, responding to Clark’s submission, said: ‘‘It’s a fall from grace for her, she’s really come down to be a petty politician.

‘‘She should have done what we’re good at in New Zealand, that is, pick up the phone,’’ he said.

But Clark has hit back at the former New Zealander of the Year via Twitter.

‘‘Amazing way of operating – to hurl abuse, and then say he wants to sit down and talk. Time for 101 perhaps on residents’ rights to object to activities which are not permitted under current planning parameters,’’ was her response to one user who posted the Stuff story.

Clark also responded to a number of other users who shared the article on social media.

‘‘It was there as a sporting venue. Concert applications have been consistently dismissed. @MtSmartStadium is the obvious and well accepted concert venue,’’ she said of the stadium’s usage.

Avery said the concert, to be headlined by a yet-to-be-named international performer, would be the centrepiece of other fundraising events such as a VIP dinner the night before and a telethon to be screened online with links to overseas countries.

It is jointly proposed by the Sir Ray Avery Foundation and the Eden Park Trust.

Eden Park had

‘‘Amazing way of operating – to hurl abuse, and then say he wants to sit down and talk.’’ Helen Clark

previously battled opposition to loosening the restrictions on the nature and number of evening events.

The Eden Park Neighbours Association, which claimed to represent 430 people, plans to oppose the concert.

Avery had started to discuss the group’s concerns with its president, Mark Donnelly, but those talks had broken down, he said.

‘‘I’d love to get in the room with Helen,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve got to go to the wire; a lot of people have worked pro bono on this.’’

In one of her tweets, Clark pointed out that residents had the right under the Resource Management Act ‘‘to object to applications which seek to override existing use constraints on a facility. Everyone is entitled to exercise those rights’’.

People had used Mt Smart for sports events and concerts for years, she said.

‘‘It has all the necessary planning consents in place. That makes it the obvious venue.

‘‘It’s a fall from grace for her, she’s really come down to be a petty politician.’’

Sir Ray Avery

Medium to longer term, a CBD stadium close to all transport nodes replacing EP is worth considering,’’ Clark wrote.

Avery released a statement on Wednesday morning, which stated those filing in opposition needed to ‘‘understand that they are sabotaging everything I have worked for to save the lives of atrisk babies’’.

Submissions to the plan close on July 12, and Auckland Council has not yet made available those already lodged.