Letter to the Editor, Thursday March 26, 2015

Bums need kicking

Over the years I have read various letters in this column using Te Ahu as a club to beat up on others or carry out a haters' agenda. Invariably what is written is so far from the truth that it is laughable, and certainly hasn't borne the dignity of a reply.

However, in the last few days it has come to my attention that various mainstream media outlets have released reports that are just so full of misinformation that they cannot be ignored by me.

I am the chairman of the Te Ahu Charitable Trust. The trust is the entity that owns the Te Ahu facility on behalf of the community, and is legally mandated to provide, maintain, resource and manage Te Ahu for the benefit of the Far North communities. We are a separate entity from FNDC, who operate various council facilities from Te Ahu and who have contributed financially to the building of Te Ahu, along with other funding providers.

Not once has any media outlet contacted me or others on the Te Ahu trust to get clear and accurate information. Rather, what I have seen is appalling reporting and journalism using wrong information, misconstruing it and using it to slur the image of Te Ahu, and Mark Osborne in particular. The lack of professionalism and integrity by so-called leading news outlets is hard to believe.

Some backsides need to be kicked by the employers of these journalists for sloppy, shallow research and obviously carrying out a blatant political agenda. These people need to contact me and get the facts straight.

For the record, Mark Osborne was the general manager of the Te Ahu project. He did an exemplary job, and was a major factor in Te Ahu being successfully completed well under budget.

Again for the record, some of the figures being quoted and attributed to being Te Ahu losses are simply FNDC costs to provide their services, i.e. library, museum, i-Site and service centre etc, costs that have always been incurred by ratepayers for these services, and probably less than they were historically before being housed in Te Ahu.

Lastly, my message to the people of Te Hiku o Te Ika is to understand that Te Ahu is 'Your Place'. Get involved, make good use of it, and work with us as a trust to get the best outcomes we can.

Get out and vote, and Go the Black Caps!

MIKE MITCALFE

Chairman

Te Ahu Charitable Trust