Govt holding on to its cash

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce. Photo / NZPA

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce says the Government will seek several major changes to Team New Zealand before it commits further funding.

The team's board would have to expand to five or six directors, two of whom would be approved by the Crown.

In San Francisco, the team had only two directors, and later one, when Jim Farmer, QC, had to resign to take part in a safety review.

Mr Joyce said that as a result the team lacked governance off the water at crucial times.

Grant Dalton and Dean Barker had also requested a new technology partner for the team.

The Government has contributed $5 million in interim funding for Team NZ and is waiting on an application for longer-term funding.

The investment could depend on the structure of the next America's Cup - Oracle is expected to reveal the preliminary details in the next month or two.

It could also depend on the results of a report due next month which evaluates the return on the Government's $36 million grant for Team NZ's last challenge.

Asked if the Government - as a part-funder of the team - had any influence over the team taking a lay day, Mr Joyce said MPs did not meddle in the day-to-day running of the syndicate.

He had checked with Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, who was in San Francisco at the time, about any discussion of a rest day and had been told that he knew nothing about it.

Isaac Davison