Party over: Key adviser quits World Cup project

Vicki Watson. Photo / Otago Daily Times

A senior executive hired to help bring together Party Central for the Rugby World Cup has quit amid "tensions" between agencies involved in the Queens Wharf project.

Vicki Watson, formerly the head of the Sir Peter Blake Trust, resigned from the project last week, as meetings were held between Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully and Auckland Mayor Len Brown over Party Central funding issues.

It is understood that there have been fissures in the Queens Wharf project ever since Prime Minister John Key declared it Party Central in June 2009.

Several plans for the space were put forward, including a failed design contest and disputes over the wharf's old warehouses, as the Government and the former Auckland regional and city councils pulled in different directions.

Now, the Government is the primary backer of the temporary Cloud, while the Auckland Council is more closely aligned with Shed 10. The two structures are next to each other.

Tensions relate to opening and closing times for the venues during the cup and the allocation of public money, one source said.

Sources have also suggested that there has been a delay in ordering two giant screens for the wharf, forcing hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent shipping them here on time.

Ms Watson left the Sir Peter Blake Trust in October last year and was contracted to help put together Party Central.

She would not comment yesterday on any specific issues affecting the planning of Party Central, but said that all she had wanted was for the World Cup to be a success - and that needed the country's backing.

"I want the Rugby World Cup to be a success. If New Zealand embraces it, it will be a success.

"That's all I want and always have wanted."

The head of the Queens Wharf showcasing programme, Michael Barnett, said her resignation was an employment issue.

"She has moved on ... I would be disappointed if you focused in on that, because it's a relatively small part of what's happening. There's much bigger issues," he said.

"It would be fair to say there's a number of frustrations with the whole of the activities on Queens Wharf. It's a frustration.

I can see what the end is going to look like, but for a lot of people it's going to be frustrating getting to that end point. But I know it's going to be worth it."

Mr McCully responded to the big-screen issue by saying that the Government was not the one writing the cheque.

"You may be aware that the screens aren't being purchased by the Government."

Asked who was, he said: "I'm not going to tell you the answer to that."

He had been told that the screens would arrive on time, he said.

In relation to Ms Watson's resignation, Mr McCully said: "Never heard of her."

But he had taken a "close interest" during the past couple of weeks in possible shortfalls in operating budgets for Party Central, and he had held a meeting with Mayor Brown last week.

"Frankly, we need to accept these are difficult financial times and we need to get the scale right for these times," he said.

All planned programmes would go forward within existing budgets, Mr McCully said.

A spokesman for the Waterfront Development Agency said it was responsible for the structural work done to the wharf, not for any operations related to Party Central - and certainly not the screens.

Meanwhile, organisers of Eden Park's two "super" screens showed yesterday that they can be manipulated by the flick of an iPhone.

"iPhone, iPad, iCloud, iShoes - whatever the 'i' is, literally I can control it," said Eden Park head of technology Glen McCracken.