While the wider world was in a flap after last Friday's Rugby World Cup opening fiasco, Auckland's business bigwigs were sipping wine at the Cloud on the ratepayers' dime.
Auckland Council's Business Advisory Panel met on Monday night in the VIP room at the Cloud to be briefed on the council's four big plans to be released next week.
The chairman, Auckland councillor Cameron Brewer, said on Facebook: "It's the only council meeting where the chair insists on wine at the table".
Brewer later said the statement was made in jest.
"That comment on Facebook was very tongue-in-cheek. This council panel is the cheapest one to run by miles. We don't offer any reimbursement for members, so a glass of wine after work is as good as it gets. I think if these senior businesspeople turned up to an after-work gathering chaired by a Brewer, and we served up Fanta, we'd never see them again ... a glass of wine is a very small fee indeed."
