Wise Water Use Hawkes Bay led protest action today outside a meeting of the trustees of the Central Hawkes Bay Consumers’ Trust (the Trust), held outside the Centralines’ offices in Waipukurau.

“Our community is protesting against the trustees’ unwillingness to act in the best interests’ of their beneficiaries, the power consumers of Central Hawkes Bay, by refusing to tell the Centralines Board to rescind their commitment of $100,000.00 to the Ruataniwha dam v.2,” said spokesperson, Dr Trevor Le Lievre,” adding: “it’s infuriating that the Trust is refusing to act, and is allowing the Board to treat money which should be returned to beneficiaries like a personal slush fund, to be used for their pet project, Ruataniwha v.2”.

A group of over 20 attended the protest, gathering at 12:30 p.m. to ensure the trustees arriving for the 1:00 p.m. meeting heard their collective voices. The protest was good natured, with plenty of colourfully-worded signs leaving the trustees in no doubt as to how their beneficiaries felt.

Board Chair, Fenton Wilson, led a delegation of trustees out to hear the protesters' concerns, and after a respectful exchange they returned to their meeting to discuss the concerns raised.

“There is only one right decision to be made here, and that is for the Board to rescind their decision,” said Le Lievre, adding: “watch this space; however, community anger against this decision is growing so we certainly hope both the Trust and Board can read the room.”

Wise Water Use is calling for Trust Chair, Karen Middeleberg, to follow in the footsteps of fellow trustee, Tony Murphy, who recently resigned in protest at the Trust’s endorsement of the Board’s decision.

Murphy stated at the time that he believed the spend, coupled with a previous $200,000 gift to the dam promoters in 2021, raised questions about potential cronyism and Centralines’ priorities. He said he “just couldn’t support them anymore, because I’m a bit of a lone voice around the table”.[1]

“We agree with recently resigned trustee, Tony Murphy, that there is small-town cronyism at play here,” said Le Lievre, citing links between Board members and the Ruataniwha dam project:

• Board Chair, Fenton Wilson, was the former-HB Regional Council Chair who was the main driver of Ruataniwha v.1;
• Board Director, Sarah von Dadelszen, was an original member of the Tukituki Water Security Project (TWSP), announced in 2021, and as far as we know is still part of that group;
• Sam Robinson who, along with Mike Petersen (TWSP Chair), presented the case to the Board to advance money for Ruataniwha v. 2. Robinson was the Chair of HB Regional Council Investment Company (HBRIC), the Regional Council’s financial wing which sunk $20 million of ratepayers’ money into the failed Ruataniwha v.1. project. Robinson is also a former-chair of the Centralines Board;
• Ian Walker, another original member of TWSP, was the former-Chair of the Centralines Board which in 2021 gifted $200,000 to the dam promoters without ever making a public announcement.

Fenton Wilson was asked by the protesters whether any of the 5 Board members had declared conflicts of interest when making their decision to commit $100,000.00; however, never received a clear answer. This important matter remains to be cleared up.

Wise Water Use has also spoken to local consumer-beneficiary, Murray Rosser, who wrote to Middelberg requesting a speaking slot at today’s meeting, and was refused. Rosser has a background in risk analysis, running his own underwriting agency, Rosser Underwriting, for over 20 years. He expressed concern in his letter about the use of consumers’ money in this way and also cited the trustees legal obligations, as below:

“Trustees have a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interests and to protect the assets of beneficiaries (clause 12.1 of Trust Deed). The decision to endorse the Centralines Board’s decision is a clear breach of that obligation, with possible legal ramifications for trustees”

After being refused a speaking slot, Rosser made a request to attend that part of the meeting where the Board’s decision would be discussed (as confirmed by Middleberg) as an observer, and was again knocked back.

Rosser told Wise Water Use:

“There can be little doubt that Ms Middelberg and her fellow trustees are completely out of touch with their beneficiaries, whose interests they purport to represent,” adding: “Ms Middleberg told me in her response that ‘the trustees are aware of consumer opinions around this subject’, but how can that possibly be when they’re not in the least bit interested in hearing from them?

“Instead of addressing the issue of reckless use of beneficiaries’ money, Ms Middleberg has circled the wagons around the Board, and is hiding behind the fig leaf of the Board being able to make expenditure decisions without having to inform the Trust if the amount is below a certain threshold.[2]

This is highly disingenuous given the history of public dissent about beneficiary money being used to subsidise the Ruataniwha dam, and highlights the cosy relationship between the Consumers’ Power Trust trustees, Board members, and the dam promoters,” Rosser told Wise Water Use.

Wise Water Use agrees with both Murphy and Rosser, and is calling cronyism on this ongoing use of beneficiaries’ money to promote the Ruataniwha dam, and is calling on Karen Middleberg to tell the Board to rescind their decision, or to resign immediately.

“The Trust appoints the Board members, and is also able to remove them,” finished Le Lievre.

[1] Trustee resigns over ‘unproven cronyism’ in fast-tracked dam

[2] WWU understands this expenditure threshold is 3% of Centralines' asset value of $80 million = $2.4 million.

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