Vicki Salmon moved directly from the board of the Eden Park Trust to become the chair of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited in April 2023. Photos / Supplied
The new chair of Auckland Council’s facilities arm was “adamant” there was no conflict of interest in her past role on the Eden Park Trust board and told internal legal counsel it was “unnecessary” for her to abstain from voting on stadium issues when it was suggested to her.
Internal Auckland Council correspondence has revealed approaches to the chair of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, Vicki Salmon, around the perceived conflict of interest in her voting on council’s new Single Operator Stadium Auckland (SOSA) project.
Salmon moved directly from the board of the Eden Park Trust to become the chair of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited in April 2023.
Auckland Councillor Chris Darby also raised concerns to council chief executive Jim Stabback about the perceived conflict of interest in Salmon’s prior board seat on Eden Park Trust - which council has financially bailed out several times, most recently to the tune of $63 million in 2019.
On August 7, the Herald also reported nearly $2m has been spent by Auckland Council for two big accountancy firms to consult on the city’s stadium strategy. Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, has paid EY about $1.1m on a report for the council and Eden Park Trust to develop a single stadium operator.
Tātaki and Eden Park Trust are currently working on a single operator model for the city’s four stadiums to be delivered by July next year under the SOSA project.
In emails obtained via the Local Government Official Information Act, the Herald can reveal there was extended legal deliberation over how to manage a possible perceived conflict of interest from Salmon moving to a council department in which she would likely be voting on public funding for a stadium she had just been on the board of.
As part of this LGOIMA request, Auckland Council refused to release 28 emails that related to Salmon between their legal team and council’s CCO Governance team, Darby and Stabback.
However, one email from Auckland Unlimited’s company secretary and legal counsel, Tim Kingsley-Smith, to senior staff overseeing Auckland Council’s CCO governance describes an interaction with Salmon on the conflict issues.
“Vicki’s view is that one of the reasons that she was appointed Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Chair is her experience with Eden Park Trust Board which will allow her to help the Single Operator Stadiums Auckland (SOSA) project,” Kingsley-Smith writes in his May 1 email.
“Vicki is adamant that there is no issue with predetermination and that any perceived conflict of interest is unreasonable in the circumstances. I floated the idea of abstaining from voting on the SOSA project and/or noting a potential perceived conflict of interest on the Director’s Interest Register. While Vicki did not rule these options out, she thought they were unnecessary in the circumstances.
“I think it’s now up to Jim [Stabback] and Council to decide whether to raise the issue with Vicki again, and to be fair, I think Vicki will be open to the conversation.”
When the Herald asked for Salmon to elaborate why she saw no conflict of interest, a statement provided by Auckland Council’s manager CCO Governance, Alastair Cameron, reiterated that the Tātaki Auckland Unlimited chair had resigned from her position on the Eden Park Trust board prior to taking up her new role on April 1.
“During the selection process Vicki was advised that should she be the successful candidate, she would be required to resign her position at Eden Park Trust Board, prior to taking up the appointment,” Cameron said.
“Regarding decision making on Eden Park, the Tātaki Board of which Vicki is the Chair are not decision makers for this independent Trust. That is the role of the Eden Park Trust Board. Council also does not appoint any of the Trustees to the Eden Park Trust Board.”
Cameron also outlined some of the priorities of the SOSA project which Salmon would be voting on as Tātaki Auckland Unlimited chair.
“Through the 2023-2024 letter of expectation to Tātaki, Council has instructed Tātaki to deliver a plan to Council for progressing to a single stadium operator for the city’s four stadiums (including Eden Park) and identify what decisions are required from others for it to be implemented.”
“The Tātaki board will not be the final decision maker for council on the single operator stadiums proposal, that is the role of the Council’s Governing Body. Funding decisions regarding Eden Park are made by the Council’s Governing Body, not the Tātaki Board.”
Cameron said Salmon would need to “disclose and manage any perceptions of potential conflicts of interests” while she made decisions on SOSA or wider stadium matters
“Auckland Council is aware of the potential for perceptions of conflict of interest and believes adequate steps have been put in place to manage this.”
However, it is noticeable on Tātaki Auckland Unlimited board meeting’s minutes for May this year - the first that Salmon was chair - that there is no “possible conflict” declared under the “Register of Directors’ Interests” section.
In the Tātaki Auckland Unlimited board meeting’s minutes for June and July - after council’s legal team had been internally discussing Salmon and Councillor Darby had raised his concerns, the following is printed: “Prior to Vicki Salmon’s appointment to the Tātaki Auckland Unlimited Board Vicki was a member of the Eden Park Trust Board (EPTB). Vicki resigned as a member of the EPTB on 27 March 2023 and no longer has any interest in EPTB or the Eden Park organisation.”
In March 2019, Auckland Council bailed out Eden Park to the tune of $63m, including a nearly $10m no-strings grant.
Then Mayor Phil Goff, who was outvoted in the 2019 meeting, immediately condemned the decision. He told the Herald, “You can basically guarantee that Eden Park will be back for more, because why wouldn’t they? That’s free money we’ve just given them.”
In May, 2023, Eden Park Trust released its “Eden Park 2.0″ uncosted plan to transform the stadium into a 60,000-capacity sport and entertainment precinct.
The proposal includes three new grandstands, a retractable roof and a pedestrian promenade that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more than $1 billion.
An Industry Advisory Group (IAG) comprising representatives from Eden Park Trust Board, Auckland Cricket Association, Auckland Rugby Union and Tataki Auckland Unlimited was convened to develop the proposed SOSA model.
Both Eden Park Trust and Tātaki say they have gone into the process in good faith, but outgoing Eden Park Trust chairman Doug McKay admitted a few months ago “It’s proving to be quite a challenging, complex conversation”.
Tātaki chief executive Nick Hill said consultancy group EY were brought in as an intermediary to collate data from both sides to build a business case with five components - strategic, financial, economic, management and commercial.
Once that is done, he said, the parties will need to make an application to the Commerce Commission to rule on whether the ‘public benefits’ of a single operator outweigh any impacts from the loss of competition between Tātaki’s stadiums and Eden Park.
If the parties get the green light from the Commerce Commission, Hill said the single-operator model will not be about having fewer people employed at stadiums for events, but making better decisions on where capital is spent and events are staged.
Tom Dillane is an Auckland-based journalist covering local government and crime as well as sports investigations. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is Deputy Head of News.
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