Winston Peters: Are Cup costs out of control?

The news this week that the taxpayer is to stump up for a 60-metre plastic waka to showcase Maori culture for 17 days in Auckland has jangled nerves.
It's been Groundhog Day for talkback hosts and the concept has been launched in an ocean of negativity, surely a disappointment for Ngati Whatua whose plan got government backing.
Defenders of the plan argue the need to promote Maori culture during the World Cup and significant benefits to the taxpayer. Well they had better be right because any careful reckoning thus far on the financials cause grave concern.
Is the excitement going to our heads and is it possible that we're in donkey deep on this one?
It's argued that the economy will benefit by $1.2billion in revenue from the Cup, a figure seemingly plucked out of the ether, while scant regard is being paid to the outlay required to make a return on our investment.
The Cup was already costing the Government $300million and, if you include new or upgraded stadiums, much of which is ratepayer funded, then we will be past the $500million mark.
But that's not all. The shift of games from Christchurch has added tens of millions to costs. The original team hosting costs were set at $30million. Given that the NZ Rugby Union had secured a government agreement to cap their costs at $10million, or one-third, then it means the Government's two-thirds guarantee has now become five-sixths, or up from $20million to a likely $50million, because of the Christchurch earthquake.
That is a previously unreported fact, but it means financial undertakings given by the then-Prime Minister Helen Clark when her delegation persuaded the IRB meeting in Ireland to select New Zealand as the venue in 2011, have all been exceeded and the public is none the wiser. We should know what's going on. The true picture is beginning to unfold in the detail of these costs, which begs the question, who is in control here?
In the same week that we learned the Government is to bail out AMI to the tune of $500million, which Finance Minister English conceded could be $1billion, and a further $300million for South Canterbury Finance, New Zealanders could be forgiven for asking, "Where will it all end?"
Where in all of Polynesia did we ever have a 60-metre waka that conceptually was showcased on TV as a floating restaurant and entertainment centre? And what is there about the authenticity of Maori culture when the vessel is to be constructed of plastic?
Let's not pour cold water on good ideas, but anyone who thinks the cost of this maritime phenomenon is $2million is on the Good Ship Lollipop.
This showcase project never went to tender in the Maori world and has left iwi around the country mystified. How will we ever learn what Maori want if no one asks them? This will affect other iwi in the Cup. Most will say, well if this is the way things are going to be done then if you want our involvement you can pay for it.
Already a number of disquietening developments surround the Cup. Some hosting locations in Auckland see themselves missing out from the plan of a temporary waterfront party central. Another instance is the farce around TV rights to the Cup where we've gone from the idea of one station carrying all the games to now five TV stations being involved, two of which are taxpayer funded.
This is no way to maximise the television dollar possible from this event. Put aside TV1, which pays the taxpayer a dividend, the question is how did Maori TV get the rights to showcase the Cup?
Maori TV is costing the taxpayer $37million per annum to which we must add a further $3million for its coverage of the Cup. Whoever described that as being "free to air" must have gone to the Bernie Madoff school of business because, whatever it is, free to air it is not. For the Cup coverage, Maori TV's audience will be well less than 40,000, or $75 per viewer of taxpayer's money.
All this has the appearance of political interference at a time when the nation's finances are seriously in trouble. As Marvin Gaye asked in his 1971 hit What's Going On?