Avery ‘exhausted’ by bruising concert fight
Eden Park has officially pulled the plug on a concert fundraiser for Sir Ray Avery’s LifePods.
Eden Park Trust said time pressures and the prospect of a costly Environment Court case had forced it to withdraw its application for the concert to go ahead.
Speaking to Stuff, Sir Ray Avery said he was ‘‘exhausted and tired’’ from the fight.
‘‘I was naive about the power of the people who opposed this thing.’’
He also apologised to Eden Park chief executive Nick Sautner for convincing the trust to back the LifePod appeal. Avery said he told the trust ‘‘no-one’s going to stop us putting on a concert to save a million babies’ lives’’.
Lawyers Meredith Connell had told the trust the court hearing would cost $750,000 on top of legal costs. In a statement, the trust said Auckland’s unitary plan allowed for six concerts a year at the park.
‘‘It has become clear that it is impossible to practically give effect in a timely or affordable manner to these unitary plan provisions.’’
The costs would likely have exceeded $1 million, the trust said.
The dropping of the concert plan was welcomed by Mark Donnelly of Eden Park Neighbours’ Association, which had objected to the event.
‘‘We’re relieved that we are not going to have to go through this in the Environment Court process,’’ he said. ‘‘This is the sixth failed attempt to get concerts at Eden Park, and it’s just not a suitable venue. Auckland is well catered for for concerts, it’s not missing out.’’
Auckland mayor Phil Goff said he was supportive of the event and ‘‘hope that it can be rescheduled at an appropriate time and place’’.
Eden Park Trust would have needed to pay the cost of the entire hearing, including consultants’ fees and advisers.
In a statement, it said: ‘‘The trust hoped it could work with the minority who objected, to reach an agreement for this one-off worthy event. This would have avoided the Environment Court process.’’
Former prime minister Helen Clark, who lives three blocks away from the stadium, strongly opposed Eden Park Trust’s application and questioned the motives of both Avery and the trust.
‘‘It is about Eden Park, he [Avery] in my opinion is being used by Eden Park to set a precedent for a concert, and once you set a precedent who knows where it will go,’’ she told Stuff on July 5.
On Wednesday, Clark tweeted questions around how and where funds raised at the concert would be used. For his part, Avery called Clark’s comments on the concert a ‘‘fall from grace’’.
The concert was set to take place on Waitangi Day 2019.
Avery hoped the event, which would have included a telethon, would have raised $4m to produce 2000 LifePods.
LifePods, an invention of Avery’s, are a bubble-shaped incubator designed to provide care for premature babies, and can be produced at a fraction of the price of alternatives.
But the trust’s attempts to create momentum behind their campaign for support hit a snag after a flurry of reporting which saw both Avery and Sautner come under scrutiny.
Details of an Australian court case surfaced where harsh comments were made about Sautner’s conduct in his previous role at Melbourne Stadiums.
Questions were also raised around the progress of Avery’s yetto-be produced LifePod incubator.